The Grey Following Anthology
by Jokie155
Summary: A collection of stories covering all manner of characters across the years involved, compiled together for convenience and causing confusion when none appear in chronological order. (I worked out a better format that will let me post all of them here, hooray for chapters!)
1. Kiarna - The Kneeling Child

_Sometime in the fourth year of the Border Wars..._

"General! They've broken-"

A blaster shot burned through the soldier's chest as he crumpled against the crude wooden door. The Jedi Knight in charge of the operation, Zykira, barely had time to react to his demise before more shots were fired her way. Each one bounced off into the wall of what had been her conference hall, planning room and sleeping quarters for two weeks. It was humid, cold, and now on the verge of being overwhelmed by Imperial troopers.

The scene outside was as grim as expected. Her platoon consisted of just over thirty Republic peacekeeping troops. Imperial numbers doubled that easily. Normally that would not be much of an issue, as she could deal with such a force in any number of ways with ease. And yet, she was experiencing an overwhelming sense of danger

"Defensive positions! Beware flanking! Let me engage the front line!"

The sweat of fear was running down her face, matting her black curls down further. It was no longer just the frustrating perspiration that came with the humidity. Something very wrong indeed. The platoon dropship was some distance away. She couldn't go there to request reinforcements herself, and there was a high chance any trooper she sent would be ambushed or worse.

A bad presence was lingering, and she would be facing it alone.

She wasn't waiting long at all for the presence to reveal herself, as it turned out.

The sight was impossible to not recognize based on stories told by those who had witnessed her terrifying power. Battles across the galaxy, turned in an instant by her arrival. Many helpless victims falling to her blade. A horrifying amount of them were Jedi like herself.

"A single Jedi, hm?"

The laughter that came had a faint distortion to it, repeated through whatever vocalizer the mask contained. A purple lightsaber blade was extended out towards her foe, directing most of the blaster fire away from herself when it came.

It was a brief onslaught as the Republic troops also came to the realization Zykira had. They were abysmally outmatched by the presence alone of the White Terror.

"Good, I'm not in a particularly slaughterful mood today." She strode across the firing zone directly towards her opponent.

Zykira's delay had been to make peace with the gods of her homeworld, and with the Force itself, before she raised her blade for what would obviously be a heroic demise. She would not let herself be taken prisoner. "Leave my soldiers, and this village alone."

The demand amused Kiarna immensely, another laugh coming from behind her mask. Her right hand went to her hip, while the left let her blade dip down to the ground, burning the tips off some grass blades with a small hiss.

"Let's not waste time here, Jedi. You're far too young to go out like this, and I have no interest in harming the villagers or your soldiers if they co-operate."

Her hand flicked up in an order for her own troops to hold position as she came within a few metres of Zykira. She had already seen a pair of Republic soldiers moving to attack her from behind, and was currently observing the gestures Zykira herself was making with her fingers. More likely than not committing final words to a nearby holo-recording in Jedi sign.

When the defensive posture was maintained, Kiarna gave a small shrug. "That was my fair warning." Her right hand flicked out straight, yanking the soldier about to attack in her direction. With a swift movement of her arm, his forward motion brought his neck flying against the lightsaber blade.

"Pull that trigger and you'll have a much worse fate." To maintain the illusion, she slowly turned her head to where the other soldier was waiting in ambush. She was in deep shock from just how effortlessly the other had been dispatched.

Sweat was still running down Zykira's face as she held her blade high. So far, the reality was indeed living up to the stories. She didn't want to feel afraid, terrified even. She had heard all too often that fear and pain were known to fuel the White Terror's power. And yet, even with that in mind and years of training, it was damn near impossible to contain the first of those in herself.

The second of which she was convinced was right around the corner. "Stand down, everyone." Her jaws began to throb at just how hard they were being clenched. At any moment, they could be wiped out along with her. That was the reality she didn't want to witness.

Kiarna twisted her head back in a smooth motion. "Smart move." Her right hand motioned for her own troops to advance again, quickly sweeping into the village and disarming all of their Republic counterparts.

Once they were all under control, she motioned for them to be taken elsewhere. "Find a good hall, keep it well guarded. The rest can attend to our real prisoner here."

At that, she deactivated her own lightsaber and placed it back on her belt. Seeing that Zykira was not going to be so cooperative, she shrugged again with more of a gesture from her hands. "Come now, this is not how surrender works."

"No tricks, Sith. You didn't include me in your little speech back then." Seeing Kiarna tilt her head, she took a cautious step backwards. Her hands were starting to tremble. "I won't surrender. I know what you, your master, and your fellow sorcerers have done to other Jedi. Not me."

Beneath the mask, Kiarna's lips twisted just a little.

"Funny you should say that…"

In an equally quick motion, she drew her lightsaber back out and activated it mid swing. The very tip of the blade swung over Zykira's, gorging right across her eye line and instantly rendering her blind.

While she collapsed to the ground in agony, dropping her own lightsaber in the process, Kiarna crouched down beside her. "That worked quite well on Rilana'Arani. I think I'll make it a signature mark of sorts, something to remember me by."

She motioned for two of her troopers to pick the fallen Jedi up, who was still clasping at her face and sobbing incessantly. Her lightsaber returned to her belt yet again, Zykira's own weapon half sunken into the mud.

"Bring her to whatever qualifies as the marketplace of this village. And tell the others to politely ask the villagers to gather there as well." Once Zykira was back on her feet, Kiarna lightly took hold of her muddied chin beneath her clenched hands. "The problem with you Jedi is that you overthink things. You had many opportunities to strike first, except you were too busy trying to reassure yourself that you were in the right."

Mud was kicked onto her previously pristine coat in response, to which she shrugged again. "You haven't been trained that well at all. Kicking mud around like a child. I think you needed a lesson in how the real world works."

"Fuck you!"

"Trooper, break her left arm. Below the elbow."

Another wail of pain echoed out in the wake of the sickening crack. She fell to her knees again for a moment before being hauled up again by the pair.

"We're done for the moment. Secure her with the resin bonds, ensure she's guarded well. I'll be along shortly."

She waited there while the troopers carried her off, bending down for a moment to brush the mud off her coat and holding it out so that the light drizzle would do the rest.

It had already inspired quite a lot for her to say to the village, on top of everything else seen so far. A shining example of everything her master had described about the Republic's failings as a whole.

After enough time had passed, she casually walked through the village towards where the people themselves had gathered. A convenient raised platform of stone blocks overlooked them, which she promptly climbed onto and began to pace along. Zykira was brought up and restrained in the area just behind her.

"Now that you're all here, I can finally lay out the terms that you have time enough to discuss amongst yourselves."

She turned her head slowly to ensure that they assumed she was looking over the crowd. "We know this village maintains a mine of lightsaber crystals with a very specific formation pattern to them. Put simply, the Empire has other uses for them, and thus we have come with a proposal."

"Anything she says will be a lie! Don't trust her!"

Kiarna motioned her hand again. The thud of a hard punch being applied to Zykira's gut punctuated her silence rather effectively.

"She's still bitter about the eyes, and the arm too I suppose."

Her ethereal view of the crowd continued to move across them all. She was watching very closely for any sign that one of them was going to attempt an attack.

"I've looked over this village. Twenty six soldiers and a Jedi Knight to protect a mudheap? The Republic has technology that it quite literally disposes of on an hourly basis, and yet I've seen no sign that they have ever thought to share it with you. Is the convenience of fresh water, proper medical care and even standard education for your children too much to ask of the Jedi who should be so grateful to you all?"

"She's… lying…"

Kiarna turned on her heel and lashed her right hand out towards Zykira. Her left drew her lightsaber once more, activating it while she slowly pried open the Jedi's mouth.

"Interrupt me one more time and I'll disintegrate your tongue as well." She levelled the purple blade directly at her now open mouth. "Understood?"

There was no small amount of struggling before Zykira finally relented, her head hanging low in defeat.

"Better." She twisted back around and sheathed her lightsaber yet again. "My offer to you all is this. The Empire is fully prepared to provide you with all the supplies you need, as well as contracted labour to help with repairs, construction, and upgrading the sorry state of the infrastructure of your village in whatever way you choose. We will also provide a well trained physician to assist your current healer, and access to the information resources of over a dozen worlds."

Beneath her mask formed a faint smile.

"Or, you can continue to cling to the Republic, to the Jedi, and I proceed to hunt down and behead anyone I catch as you all flee the burning remains of the village, while the Empire strip mines the region. That is the price of siding with our enemy after all."

She could hear the familiar sound of whimpering spreading through the crowd. What she could make out of their expressions told enough. Fear was only part of what would drive them to accept her offer. The laughable reality was that she really was giving them the better deal after all.

"An Imperial quartermaster will be arriving within the next day. Give him your answer, and the Empire shall proceed accordingly. In the meantime…"

Her wandering gaze finally came across a child within the crowd. At that moment, he was kneeling down in what very clearly looked like a bow in her direction.

"Move aside." She hopped down from the raised section and strode towards the crowd in the direction of the child. Many villagers moved away in growing fear, and those who didn't she forced out of her way with a gesture.

When it became clear who she was headed for, the boy's apparent father fell to his knees in terror over what he assumed was about to happen. "Lord Kiarna, whatever gesture my son made to draw your ire, please overlook it. He's barely eight years of age."

Kiarna turned her head to him in a feigned quizzical look, before turning it back to the boy now at her feet. "The only offence I take is the fact that you are both on your knees. I don't appreciate the misguided notion that I need to be reminded of my superiority."

There was yet more whimpering when she crouched down. A faint sob to her left started up when she extended her hand out to the boy's face, lightly touching his chin to encourage him to look up. When he finally did so, her hidden smile grew a little more.

"Why are you down here on the ground? You're very young to be taking up meditation, and much as I would approve of such activity, doing so in the middle of my speech is hardly polite."

The boy gazed at her, his grey eyes fixated onto her mask. While she didn't realize it at first, it eventually became apparent that they had something in common. She couldn't let that little fact out though of course.

"Jedi say I can't meditate. Say I'm not trained. I'm not right for Jedi." The boy began to sit back up, and eventually stand, his hand fumbling around for support as he did so.

It was Kiarna's gloved hand that he eventually took hold of. By then, she had discerned that it was far more than just blindness in the physical sense that they had in common.

Once more she turned her head to the boy's father, and then looked around for his mother. "You should be glad I came. The Jedi would have brainwashed your son into following their dogma when they realized he has a connection with the Force. More specifically, the side I hail from."

The anguish that it caused in both parents forced her to chuckle. It was actually quite the find, locating such a young mind with a clear focus towards the dark side. Given his surroundings, and his lack of vision, it wasn't hard to guess where his anger and bitterness was drawn from.

"I'll have a Sith instructor sent here as well to appraise his skill. I'd recommend you allow him to be trained. Wouldn't want other children to meet with an unfortunate accident around him after all." Her hand moved up to his shoulder momentarily before slipping away as she finally turned back around to leave the crowd again.

Once up on the platform, she gave a few discrete orders to one of her troopers before making a final address. "As I made clear, I came here to lay out what the Empire is prepared to offer. Already, we have ample supplies ready to be handed out within the hour as a gesture of our intent. My troops will remain here until the quartermaster arrives. You can attend to your former guardian and her own soldiers as you please until they leave. Just know that my forces have orders to shoot anyone who attempts insurgency. I suggest you make use of the grace period we offer."

Before stepping down again, she motioned for the trooper commander to join her aside, making another glance at Zykira while she did so. "Keep a close eye on her. A potential recruit for later corruption isn't worth holding back on appropriate punishment. If she causes too much trouble, use your judgement and act accordingly. In this you have my authority."

"Understood ma'am. Anything else?"

Once more, Kiarna smiled in her own hidden way.

"Introduce yourself and the others to the village. If all goes well, you could be staying here longer if wanted. Just ensure that we don't end up with new parents in our ranks."

A small scoff came from the commander as he nodded in that joking manner. "They've had the talk alright, I'll give a refresh tonight. Pleasure to serve, Lord Kiarna."

"There will be hourly check-ins from my return to the fleet. As you were."

The walk back to her ship was brief thanks to Mirrin's foresight prompting her to reland it much closer to the village. One of the attending droids took the moment to cleanse her coat and boots of the mud as soon as she stepped onto the ramp. Another waited just inside to relay the usual reports.

"Geological surveys have uncovered at least three more potential mining sites for exploitation. Another village has been pacified, four more wiped out for acts of insurrection. Darth Lasidia has requested a personal audience this evening. General Morgak wishes to conduct a debriefing of the decisive battle and troop deployments upon your return. Silent has requested handpicked subjects for his next line of research by yours truly."

By then, Kiarna had taken her seat beside Mirrin, who was already preparing for a proper launch off the planet itself. A single gesture was all she needed to give in approval to continue.

"Darth Lasidia knows I wouldn't willingly miss our evenings together. Inform the General that I will attend that debriefing an hour after my return, and no sooner. And remind Silent that he needs to be more specific about what he wants. I saw plenty of degenerate humans with a very poor sense of self-worth, so unless he wanted disposable subjects…"

"Understood. Messages will be relayed immediately."

While the droid shuffled off to descend to the main deck, Kiarna slowly turned in her chair to physically face Mirrin. "No problems with bold Republic soldiers I take it?"

"None master."

"Good. I'd hate to be told that there are scorch marks on the ship." She twisted her chair back around, then slowly let herself recline back in it with a softer sigh. "Mirrin, what does it look like from orbit?"

Mirrin glanced up from the control systems very briefly, still solemn in her expression as she always was.

"Grey, brown, dark green and blue. A bleak world. Depressing I believe is the best way to describe it."

Kiarna smirked at that, lifting her freshly cleaned boots up onto an empty section of the control panel before her. "Maybe I'll come back sometime. Sounds suitably dreary for brooding."

* * *

As always, there was a small row of troopers standing to attention in preparation for the Vastes as it came to rest on the flight deck. The other side was lined by Kiarna's maintenance crew, and a few random officers that would give the more routine reports from across the galaxy for her to think about during her walk.

As always, she strode past them with her head forward constantly, listening to every word said and filing it away for later thought.

The first thing to actually catch her attention was Vale Runon at the airlock ahead of her. From the look of it, he was waiting for someone else to arrive, but still paid notice to her presence as she approached.

"Lord Kiarna, looking pristine as ever. Don't let me keep you from recuperation."

Kiarna stopped in her walk anyway, the four troopers escorting her coming to a half immediately after. Only then did she turn her head towards him.

"I trust the _Herald of Karath_ is in one piece. Losing the _Revenant Dawn_ at Mandalore was bad enough…"

Vale brushed the shoulder piece of his heavily armoured suit off with a small smirk. "Naryan was a fool. I have no intention of letting pride get in the way of sensibility. No, my presence here is actually to meet with some strategists from our recent conquests in the Corva Sector. Your concern and trust is appreciated in any case."

"I'm sure it is, Vale…"

She returned to the forward position and proceeded onward. At the end of the corridor, the escorting guards moved to either side as they always did, leaving her to continue on through the ship alone.

Her quarters were located on the command level of the tower towards the centre. Unlike Lasidia and the others, she had no need for a window after all. Indeed, few things at all were present in the space she called her home when not living on the _Vastes_. The room itself was lined with racks of lightsabers from previous battles, and more waiting for the battles yet to come. In the middle remained a solitary mat that she knelt on when meditating for rest. It was well insulated from the hum of day to day operations, and empty enough to keep her from any distraction that could arise during the quiet moments.

Her destination was the secondary room, where the necessary facilities for maintaining her pristine hygiene were located. There, she slowly undressed, the gloves slipping off her extremely pale hands, followed by the long coat and vest beneath to leave her in a singular form fitting suit of white.

It was there that she paused in the routine exercise to undo the cord binding her hair together. Normally she would ask two handmaidens to attend to her from that moment, ensuring what had been described as sandy coloured locks were cleaned and tied back again to precision.

Something had touched her inner being, and she soon concluded it was directly related to the blind boy. Just a frail human with an unfortunate defect as far as everyone else was concerned. And so far lacking in the benefits that her own species enjoyed from abandoning an otherwise frivolous sense.

An opportunity to explore the other side of things. Potential just waiting to be unlocked. The perfect place to start with an apprentice.

"A boy from the middle of nowhere, rising to the Right Hand of the Empress…"

In a silent motion, she reached up to the seam of her mask just in front of her ears and detached it from her face. Cool air rushed in over her facial skin for just a moment before settling into stillness again.

For the first time in a long while, she could hear her natural voice.

"Such potential indeed…"

As always, Lasidia was already kneeling in the place she always took, back towards the stars outside. Her solitary lekku barely touching against her knee, eyes closed in deep thought.

Kiarna was already removing her boots to kneel down opposite her when the eyes opened at last, slowly lifting up towards her masked face.

"You did well today, Kiarna. A little surprising to see you let the Jedi go, but I certainly understand the sheer lack of satisfaction she would have given."

A simple gesture of her crimson fingers set some nearby incense rods alight. While the aroma began to emerge, she reached out and took the young Miraluka's hands in her own.

"This blind boy you encountered…"

It brought the slightest of sigh's on for Kiarna. She knew that exact tone of voice, what it meant. First and foremost was that she was now expected to remain silent while her master spoke, no matter what.

"Your power is exceeding that of some Jedi Masters now. You have learned so many ways of the dark side, forms of combat. Passing on your knowledge is part of the journey to claiming the throne yes, but I do not believe this boy is suitable."

She took a small breath, letting the faintest hints of the incense awaken her larger connection to the Force.

"His darkness comes from the feeble teasing of other children. Their village lives in squallor, dripfed by Republic trinkets and rations. There is no determination to be moulded. His inner anger would flicker out within days, and I doubt there is even a hint of loathing to be found."

A small hiss passed through her now clenched teeth. There was more to it than she wanted to share at first, but Kiarna was clearly expecting every answer she could give.

"He cannot be made to hate. Despite what you may think, he has already begun to grasp the gift of sight. He thinks you are beautiful, even without knowing what lies beneath the mask. Following either through lust, desire, or the mere appreciation of a form is not how any apprentice should come to serve their master."

The thought made Kiarna choke a bit. "Lust? His parents said he is no older than eight." The small outburst did indicate to her that she was not going to be scolded for speaking up again, thus she began her case at last.

"A motivation to grow in power from his age is not necessary. I can bend his will to mine unwaveringly. Send him out into the galaxy to retrieve the artifacts of our predecessors, the dark side will corrupt him towards a fulfilling purpose soon enough. And even if he falls too far he could never hope to match my own power."

Lasidia just shook her head slowly for a few moments, her gaze moving back down to the space between them. "I do not see this potential in him. But, you are more than capable of learning these things from experience now. And, perhaps I might yet be proven wrong."

She breathed out at last in a long, quiet manner. Calm as ever, the fire of her anger burning away silently within. "We needn't discuss the matter further. This battle has been won, and the next has dawned on the horizon."

"I stay my blade, waiting for the moment to strike."

"Before you stands your enemies."

"They see me, fear in their hearts."

"Courage tells them to strike out. Fell the White Terror, and the Sith fall."

"Fell ten Jedi, ten more will return in their stead."

"Fear tells them to flee in terror, to throw themselves at the ground in a plea for mercy from the Force itself."

"There is none to be given. They have chosen their path, and those who will not stand by their choices are worthless to me."

"Anger tells them to become ruthless in turn. You are not to be treated as a valiant enemy, but as an animal to be destroyed."

"They fall because they hide from the truth. They fail to master their own nature."

"Hatred tells them to loathe you as they limp away from the battlefield. So many have fallen by your blade, and yet they lived. You showed power over them."

"I decide who lives and who dies by my hand. They submit to my choice when they face me."

"In suffering, they find despair. They have fallen from the Code. By your presence alone, you have undone everything they believed about themselves. They have become nothing."

* * *

"Kiarna!"

What had otherwise been a pleasantly quiet three weeks was now being sharply interrupted by the bellows of Morgak as he strode across the deck towards her. For once, he seemed to have zero concern for who else was watching. Especially bold given the verbal dressing down to a Sith Lord was already dangerous enough in private.

It was with that line of bemused thinking that she turned to him, hands on her hips. "Lord Kiarna for starters. Now I assume you have a perfectly good reason for not calling me to a private meeting for this, aside from wanting witnesses about."

While she couldn't tell for herself, a red twinge had crossed his scowling face.

"Thirty elite troopers dead! There are four Jedi Masters in that village of yours right now, sent to wipe out those good men because of you!"

A small sigh was her only audible reaction as she reached up to the side of her head. "I don't have to explain myself, General. I gave the village a clear warning, and I saw no reason to waste time piling up Republic bodies when my troopers had other things to do."

" _My_ troopers Kiarna!" Morgak glanced at the slowly forming crowd, causing some of them to disperse again awkwardly. When his glare returned to Kiarna, it was as menacing as it had ever been. "The bodies now being piled up are those of people loyal until death to the Empire. You should have stayed there and protected them as is your unsworn duty."

The sigh became a scoff, Kiarna giving a rather belated shrug as her posture relaxed further.

"They died letting me know who I'm up against. Undoubtedly they'll expect me to return, but they won't be ready I assure you."

She made no small gesture about shoving past, her stride now more determined at last.

"If it's piles of Republic bodies you want, I'll give you just that."

On her way back to the ship, she took the arm of a nearby colonel in a manner that indicated he was to walk alongside her.

"Gather your forces, and some of the other colonels as well. It seems we need to re-secure a planet of interest. I want a perimeter established around one village in particular, the details will be laid out on the way."

* * *

As if the world itself was attempting to reject her presence again, a downpour had occurred just hours before Kiarna landed on the planet again. This time she made no pretence about hiding her presence. The Vastes was first on the ground just outside the perimeter she had described earlier, while several dropships marked out the other points of it for an effective encirclement of the place.

The first thing she noticed when crossing the muck was the lack of Republic soldiers firing at her. A quick look through the village itself revealed nothing. But then, Jedi Masters would know how to protect themselves from being spotted out so easily. Even if they didn't know how natural her gift was.

"Four."

She approached the outer perimeter of the village itself, marked by what had been the start of new groundwork.

"You didn't send enough. I've killed a lot more than just four Masters in one battle."

Still nothing at the threshold of the village square. People were huddled in their homes, terrified of her return. If the Jedi were among them, they were knowingly resisting the impulse to spread calm.

"Hiding in the shadows, seems like more of a Sith tactic to employ. I don't expect any of you to fight fairly of course. It's impossible after all, you can't win a fair fight when you've already been outmatched by one woman."

"It is also a Sith tactic to vastly exaggerate their odds."

A tall man ascended to the platform she had stood on previously. On closer inspection, she made out the shape of small horns. Yet another Zabrak.

"I'm hardly exaggerating though, nor am I lying. My speech to this village was sincere. They broke the terms, and now they will face the outcome."

The Jedi activated his lightsaber, raising it up into a defensive position. Already she could tell that he actually knew how to wield it effectively.

"Terrorizing defenceless people after mutilating their guardian is not a contract to begin with."

"Oh, that sorry excuse for a Jedi was the guardian here? I think I actually did your kind a favour by teaching her humility…"

Two more of the Jedi revealed themselves to her vastly extended vision at that moment. A Kel-Dor woman from the alleyway over her left shoulder, blade in hand, looking to catch her off guard. On her right, a bustling human with a heavy plasma cannon, apparently working under the assumption that the projectiles would be too large to deflect.

Her smile became a grin.

Ankles twisting into the mud, she launched herself right at the Zabrak with a pose looking to stab over his raised blade. As expected, his posture shifted to deflect her lightsaber away while also catching her in a Force grip in that window of exposure.

At the moment their blades clashed, her right hand made contact with his chest.

The yell of excruciating pain that followed caused the other two Jedi to falter momentarily. Lightning was arcing off everywhere from his body, flowing directly from Kiarna's fingertips as she cackled away in unnatural delight at his pain.

It was time enough for her to circle around after finding her footing and shove him off the platform in a hard motion. Almost immediately after, the Kel Dor leaped up to clash blades with her instead, employing a very rapid attack form to keep her distracted while the other charged his weapon.

She needed an opening to extend her mask's protection around herself, a difficult matter with the impressive resilience her current opponent was showing. A distraction was needed.

"A Jedi with a cannon. How quaint."

Their blades locked again. Her hand went in for another direct shock to the chest…

…only to find her wrist being grabbed and violently twisted back on itself. The blades came dangerously close to her neck in the moment that she was forced to a knee. Every muscle in her right arm was straining heavily, barely holding on to the threshold of tearing.

"Yield before I break your arm!"

In a desperate moment, she twisted her fingertips around to spray lighting right into the Kel Dor's mask. Several small jolts ran right back down through the arm into her own wrist, causing a spasm that in turn made her muscles tear at last. The laughter mixed in with cries of her own anguish.

There was just enough strength, and raw determination left in her to grab the Jedi by her robes and hurl her in the path of the incoming plasma discharge. Her uncontrollable urge to laugh hysterically was all she needed to know that the blast had been successfully blocked.

She didn't even have time to see if the woman now slumped beside her had survived the blast as she shoved herself back up and leapt down from the platform again. Despite the friendly fire, her remaining assailant was already preparing another shot.

"I'm ready this time!"

Her mask began to glow red in time with the green core of energy forming inside the cannon barrel. Right arm limp against her side, left arm crossed over her chest to hold her lightsaber defensively. The irony that she was now the one to take that pose was not lost on her in that moment.

"I don't think you are White Terror!"

Her perception of energy was enough to determine that the flash of light made by the plasma discharge would blind the gunner to her position for a fraction of a second. In that last instant, her mask spread the shield over her form, while her left hand regripped her lightsaber and tossed it right over the beam at his head.

The heat from the blast seared her body for a moment, deflecting all around to flash bake the mud into coarse dirt. Her blade was lodged inside the Jedi's face, having made a clean penetration through.

All she needed to hear was the rolling thud that ended in a thick splash to know he was done for good. At last, she could take a moment to breathe.

A hand yanked her back over in a sharp tug. In the confusion, she had failed to notice the Zabrak scrambling through the mud behind her. And now she was left on her back, with his lightsaber pointed directly at her heart.

"You killed two good people this day. No more-"

From across the square came a blaster shot that caught him in the shoulder. The distraction was enough for her to gesture at her lightsaber, letting it fling from the mud and impale him right through the stomach.

"You were saying?"

Once more she pushed herself off the ground in a fluid motion, using the movement to drive the lightsaber through his spine. As he fell to his knees in turn, having now lost all control of them, she pulled hard to bring her lightsaber back up through his chest until it swung free at last.

Her breathing was fierce when she finally sheathed her lightsaber, letting it return to her belt while she looked to the captain that had fired the saving shot. Even as she approached, her right arm still swinging by her side in agonizing pain, she could feel the nervousness radiating off him. As if he was afraid she'd strike him down just to hide her weakness.

Instead, she clasped his shoulder with her good arm.

"Thank you, Captain Rasters."

"My deepest honour to assist the Sith." The show of appreciation was quick in relieving him of his apprehension. "I came to inform you that the perimeter is secured, and troops are ready to move in on the village."

Kiarna gave a small nod as her hand fell away. "Get everyone out here. Children included." She took a deeper breath while glancing around the village yet again. "Four Jedi Masters?"

Rasters gave a small nod at that, soon noticing there were three bodies. "That is what the quartermaster reported before his death."

"I don't doubt his final words… Something isn't right…"

The final echoes of her joyful lust for pain faded altogether, leaving her to wince at her arm as she walked back to the square. Her legs, back and hair were coated in mud, but this time she had no remark to make about her perceived appearance. The pain was making her angry, above all else at herself for allowing such an injury to befall her. A simple mistake that would be rectified in an hour of treatment. But a mistake nonetheless

Troopers soon flooded the village, shoving the occupants out into the open, some being physically thrown out in haste. Soon enough, what appeared to be the entirety was once again herded out in front of the platform.

This time, all of her charm and soft manner was gone.

"I warned you all! I gave you all a chance to serve the Empire willingly and be spared this devastation that I will bring upon you and your children! We will strip every last exploitable resource from this world! We will have retribution for the lives lost to the Jedi this day! And those of you who survive my lust for blood will have the rest of your existence to contemplate your mistakes in the worst kinds of slavery!"

She raised her arm to the commanding trooper beside Rasters. "You have thirty seconds to run to the perimeter! Anyone I catch will suffer and die! Go!"

Screams began to run through the crowd as they tried to escape the village through the muddy streets, troopers readying their arms, while Kiarna herself activated her lightsaber once more in preparation to further threaten the crowd.

After counting to fifteen in her head, she nodded to the commander and sheathed her weapon yet again. "You and your men are free to shoot them down without mercy. I know where the last Jedi is waiting."

While he and the troopers under him dispersed, Kiarna got down from the platform and stood in the middle of the square, looking to Rasters at last.

"Move out of sight. Keep your blaster ready."

"Yes ma'am."

While he did so, the first sounds of blaster fire and more screaming began ringing out from beyond the village. Too far for her to feel the compulsion to laugh, which is exactly how she wanted it.

"Get out here Jedi!"

The door of one of the nearby buildings swung open, two troopers dead on the floor made visible. Out from the dark came Zykira, holding her lightsaber to the blind boy's throat.

"Now we all have something in common, Azera Vass."

Kiarna's left hand clenched into a fist at that moment. It was very hard indeed to conceal the sheer amount of emotions hitting her at that moment, not least of which was utter shock.

"Taking a little boy hostage is not the Jedi way you bitch."

This time it was Zykira's turn to laugh. It sounded rather forced in the sense of making it appear as if her mind had snapped. There was a definite layer of deception to it.

"I'm about to be kicked out of the Jedi because of you. Oh no, I represent some other people now." Her nails began digging into the boy's shoulder sharply, causing him to whimper a little.

All Kiarna could think of at that moment was learning as much as she could. Anyone who knew enough to identify her without any revelation from herself was a threat she had to deal with.

"Cut the crap already. If you're looking for a rematch, you've got one, because quite frankly I've had enough of fighting Jedi today and I want this dealt with quickly."

Zykira laughed again, the pain burning in where her eyes had been urging her to continue. Whispering the words to say.

"The False One is on the move. She is searching for her mate. They say that her mate is blind to the world, but all-seeing in the Force. All they have to do is kill her mate, and it all comes crumbling down…"

"I don't deal in prophecy and other superstitious crap, or the mating rituals of others. You let that boy go, or I remove your limbs one inch at a time."

A small hiss came as Zykira lowered her own thumb into the lightsaber. While her smile remained, it was now entirely forced to prevent her from screaming. Of course, Kiarna had no way of knowing that for herself.

"You opened my mind to the sight of the Force. You made me a target for the False One, Azera. I won't fall into her trap. I cannot fall into her tra-"

Her plea was cut short by an intense lightning bolt fired straight through her heart from Kiarna's fingertips.

As the Jedi fell, so too did the boy.

The implant on his chest installed by the Imperial physician just a day earlier was known to Kiarna. There to improve the circulation through his body, as had been explained in the report given. It was a problem that could be healed altogether in a few years with regular treatment, provided the implant was kept functional in the meantime.

By the time she had knelt down by his side, left glove removed so that she could rest her hand on his chest, the damage had been done through and through. Just as it had happened earlier, the jolt had passed from her target into another

"Such potential indeed. Squandered by the ravings of a mad Jedi. By my own arrogance in singling you out to her…"

She held onto his hand until the last moment, listening to his soft whisperings despite not being able to discern anything. Zykira had been killed instantly by the attack at least, leaving her without solid answers, but also without regret.

When the small hand slipped from her own, she sighed to herself and stood back up, slowly making her way around the corner to where he was waiting.

"Captain Rasters, round up anyone you find, collect our dead, and have them return to the fleet. I want this entire village bombarded from orbit. Leave the villagers and the Jedi as they are."

"Yes ma'am."

All he could do was watch her leave in silence, almost too afraid to ask if he should have taken a second shot without orders. Too afraid to even think about learning the name of the future Empress, and what consequences that held for them all.

Terrified to ponder on who the False One was supposed to be...


	2. Shara - Envoy for the Preserver

The wait for the Mandalorian representative had gone on for far longer than expected, to the point that it was during a recess from the meeting when word finally came through of her arrival.

For Surik, that meant hunking down the last of her sandwich in a hurry before the face-to-face meeting itself. There was no telling who was about to walk into the smaller meeting room. Her experience with the Miresians was limited indeed. And as for other Mandalorians…

"Master Surik, I presume?"

She waited a few seconds before turning to be certain she was in ideal composure. That barely lasted anyway as she was caught by surprise upon seeing the Mandalorian woman's armor.

"Clan Keldau? I was told-"

The woman gave a slight nod of her head with a cocked smile, tugging her helmet up by her side a little more. "I haven't been Shara Keldau in nearly nine years now. But we don't change what is printed on the armour."

After recovering again, Surik nodded herself and gestured to a nearby seat. She took one to her right, a fair distance set between them.

"Forgive the confusion, it hasn't been easy catching up on Mandalorian politics with all the instability. I'm just uncertain as to why Mires is a Mandalorian clan, when the last I heard was that they had outlasted the Neo-Crusader wars."

Shara placed her helmet on the table with a soft thud as she sat down. The cocked smile remained, but in a shallower form. "They joined willingly; surprising yes. We had developed a mutual respect in the battles fought between our peoples. They had an interest in our culture, and access to spacefaring technology and other such things from Mandalore. And in return, we gained a safe haven from Republic clean-up forces. A saving grace for our people."

Surik's own forced smile twitched a little at that. There was of course no ill will being harbored, just an uncomfortable feeling.

"I see. If only other worlds, such as Cathar for instance, were so fortunate. But this isn't the time for war regrets."

"No, it isn't."

Shara retrieved a datapad from a compartment in her chestpiece and slid it across the table to the Jedi. "That's a current readout of the resources available to you, pending the outcome of stabilizing Mandalore itself. Manpower is limited yes, but if things go well that will change quickly."

She began tapping her thigh while Surik read over the manifest. It wasn't easy to hide that she had pressing concerns on her mind, though she tried nonetheless.

"The Preserver also expressed the strong opinion that a Republic presence on Mandalore anytime soon would not go over well. Of course, he's more than happy to establish an embassy here when he actually finds people willing to fill it."

The impatience didn't go unnoticed by Surik of course. But she knew better than to ask directly of anyone, let alone the prideful type. Especially when there was a sense that there was a great pain linked to that impatience. For once, tact was needed above all else.

"I'm sure the Senate can find some building to convert."

The tapping continued.

Surik tried to break the silence by politely yawning into her hand.

At last, the tapping stopped.

"There's another issue at hand, a very, personal one…"

When she finally had something new to focus on, her small smile making an appearance yet again. A silent nod to the Mandalorian followed.

"My husband, Jay Corren…" There was a nervous draw of breath. A hard admission, and a harder question accompanying it. "He needs the care of a Jedi healer, in short. A poison he was exposed to years ago has left him stricken, typically it kills humans. Mandalorian and Miresian physicians have had no success in treating it."

It didn't take long at all for Surik to deduce the rest. "He's a Jedi too then?"

Shara nodded.

"Not too long ago I had a rather unpleasant reminder of what resistance to toxins can mean when they don't kill." She set the pad aside and sat back up, taking that moment to think. "I wouldn't hesitate to send a healer to Mires if I knew there was one available. And not to be crass, but while I possess the skills, I also have an immense amount of issues that need my attention above all else first. Not least of which is an expedition to Korriban."

A sigh followed as she continued weighing up the options in her head. From the limited description alone, any kind of treatment would take far more time than she could possibly spare. It was a painful truth made worse by not knowing who else to call upon.

"There are still Jedi returning to the Temple from hiding, and we now have secure allies to call on. I will put the word out that I need a healer to accompany you back to Mires. I wish I could do more myself."

That brought the smirk back for Shara. "I don't take that lightly, coming from you. Saving the husband of a Mandalorian might seem insignificant compared to helping our people rebuild in the grand scheme. But, to me, it means a hell of a lot. And it'll mean the world to Jayden to see her father walking again."

That one final revelation made Surik sit up at last, her mild amusement swept away to be replaced by a hint of awe.

After another glance at the door, she rose to her feet and beckoned for Shara to accompany her. "How about a short tour of the gardens before the meeting resumes. I'd like to learn more about you and your family, while we have the chance."

Shara's smirk quickly twisted into an awkward look. "As _nice_ as that sounds, I'd rather do that another time. Perhaps when Jay himself can finally return here."

"And Jayden?"

The real intent behind the question didn't slip by, so Shara answered duly. "Jayden hasn't shown any sign that she's Force sensitive. Though, given she's only two years of age, and the fact that there's no other way to test..."

"Point taken." Surik quietly pushed her chair back in, ready to make her way back to the meeting hall. "As interesting as it would be to have a Mandalorian amongst the Jedi, I can already see a conflict of needs. We're both desperate for new blood in our ranks."

"That's one way of putting it. Personally I want to see my daughter follow her own path. I don't like the idea that cooperation might mean torn loyalties."

"That makes two of us."

Surik brought on her usual smile, making way for Shara to leave the room. "It's not just tension between Jedi and Mandalorians I have to deal with. If you have insight on how to handle some of the other groups, I'm open to it."


	3. Visas - Blind Leading the Blind

Of all people, Sereti Pala was the last person that Visas expected to find on the balcony overlooking the Senate sprawl. Of course, she had no real reason to be up there either, as neither one of them could actually perceive the view beyond for what so many others described as a breathtaking sight of construction.

Instead, it was a bustling blur of energy below an empty sky. So many people scattered through the endless mazes of metal. The brightest of those blurs were behind them of course.

"I never imagined it would be so loud."

Visas took that moment to listen. There was a faint hum from the numerous hover vehicles flying around the surface, but certainly not what she would describe as loud.

"Alpheridies must be a very quiet world then."

That earned a scoff from Sereti. It made the older of the two frown while she approached the railing beside her.

"Personally, I enjoy the constant sound. It doesn't remind me of home in the slightest."

The quip that Sereti was about to lash out with was shot down rather abruptly at that moment. Far more than a little confused at what she had just said.

"Something wrong with our homeworld, Visas? Something that gave you reason to go and join the Sith? I'd watch what you say around Aibrehl."

That made Visas laugh outright. It started out as a dismissive chuckle, it was a rare feeling indeed for her to feel that she could actually be dismissive of someone. But it inevitably faded into one of weariness. The inescapable truth that still haunted her, well over a year later.

"Alpheridies isn't my homeworld. But, you're right. I shouldn't complain about the glorious Luka Society that your kind have worked so hard to build. Whatever was I thinking."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you well. I wonder if anything really does at this point."

"And here I was thinking that we were enjoying the view. Enjoy your stay, however hopefully brief it is."

Her departure from the balcony was quick, and she was hardly surprised to run into Aibrehl shortly after. It was common practise for Luka Sene to remain aware of each other at all times.

From the way he lifted his hand in a show for pause, it was also obvious that he knew what had happened.

"Visas, before things get-"

"Worse? You seem to be under the impression that I am offended by what she said. Take it from me, I'm not."

"Even so, I do have a degree of responsibility for her conduct while she is my pupil. She has been particularly brazen since coming here, but it is not her usual behaviour."

"I've noticed. And I don't really care. The fact that she can't hold a conversation for a minute without insulting somebody has told me all I need to know."

Aibrehl faltered just for a moment, but soon recomposed himself with an adjustment to his visor, and a dignified grunt.

"Whatever the case, she did volunteer to come here and assist the Order, as every one of us did. She still respects the Jedi as a whole."

"But clearly not as individuals."

Visas finally sighed, reaching beneath her veil in a rare move to emphasise just what kind of weight she felt herself under when rubbing the side of her head. "I may not entirely like the ways of the Luka Sene, but I haven't lost sight of the fact that we need people watching over those who renounce the Sith Code. You have our appreciation for that. And mine personally as well."

"And here I was thinking that Sereti's behaviour had tarnished things. I'm going to make her get over her behavioural issues, don't you worry."

"As I said, I don't really care so long as she doesn't become a legitimate problem." Visas began to leave again, headed back towards the expansive hall, when she stopped after another few steps.

The sigh that time was much colder. Again bearing the shadow of unpleasant memories. "How many in the Luka Sene know the whole truth?"

"Surik told me personally, I've kept it to myself since. I never dared the thought of asking more about it from you personally, nor about spreading what I do know around."

"Good. I don't need the sympathy card played. I've already come to terms with the matter, and I'm content with leaving it at that. Perhaps when things have settled we can discuss the full ramifications, if there are any left."

She resumed her departure at that. Not a further word was needed, nor wanted on her part. And she had more important matters to attend to.

* * *

With everything else that had gone on, the task of securing the strange spark contained below the Temple had been pushed back time and again. The barricade was still in place. Even the warning symbol she had marked weeks earlier was in the exact same spot. No-one had even made an attempt to look inside.

As a result, it felt uncanny that she was about to open it alongside Brianna, with the only 'expertise' to help being a promise from Surik that someone would arrive there shortly.

"Well, do we wait? I doubt cutting the barrier down would be a bad thing to do ahead of time."

"Maybe. I suppose we can at least determine if the spark has changed since we arrived."

Both drew their lightsabers in union, nodding to each other as they took up position at either side of the barricade. In a careful motion, they swept down the frame while remaining clear of where the barricade was expected to fall.

When it eventually did, Brianna stepped back with a small yelp. That immediately drew Visas' concern.

"What? What's wrong?"

Brianna by then had knelt down beside the barricade, her hand moving over the surface for a few seconds before dipping in to pick up a piece of metal. It practically crumbled in her fingertips just from contact alone.

"I don't think the resin cracked from age. The plasteel is brittle beyond any kind of corrosion I've seen before."

She looked up to see Visas entering the room itself. Her sense of danger flared up immediately.

"Visas, I wouldn't-"

"It's been trying to escape. And yet, the rings remain."

While the constant rotation was still making it near impossible to perceive inward, the spark itself was now large enough for her to make out. A constant reaction of Force energy, seeping out from whatever lay further in. Very dark energy.

"If it needs to be restated, touching it is a very bad idea."

Both her hands were still by her sides when she turned back to the doorway. While she hadn't sensed her arrival due to the nature of the room, there was no mistaking the presence of the 'expert' herself.

"I'm no fool. The worst kind of ancient Sith artifacts are the ones current Sith know nothing about."

"Oh, and here I was thinking you were a Jedi. Silly me."

Into the room stepped Dana, well aware of the fierce glare she was getting from Brianna, and choosing to make a deliberate point of ignoring her. The attention was entirely on the spark itself.

She knelt down on one knee before it, taking in the full sight at length. After a silent minute of staring, she hummed and stood back up.

"I assumed it had died during the purge, until now I haven't felt anything of its presence. Still, I wasn't far off with that assumption." She circled around the pillar, her hand slightly curved above the outermost ring. "It's been starved in here, hidden and isolated. And now, it has made a desperate last effort to escape."

"Mind telling us what it is? Even Surik doesn't know."

Dana laughed softly, gazing at Brianna only then to taunt her question thoroughly. "The last remnant of my people, aside from myself of course. And don't look disappointed because it's not an actual explanation. I don't know you, and I don't owe any Jedi an answer."

"We did get you out of that cryopod."

"And that's why I agreed to help at all. Now, if you'll assist me…"

Her attention returned to the spark itself, her other hand now moving up towards the opposing position. Her gaze was steady as ever.

"It's a shame that Ossus was effectively destroyed, it would have been a far better place to keep this." Once Brianna had approached the pillar, she glanced to the other two women with a small nod to the spark itself. "Do the same, the line between your hands must intersect the core exactly. It will take a combined effort to overcome the resin."

Brianna looked to Visas, who tightened her lips in response, then to the spark. Her hands moved into a hovering hold, allowing her to feel the faint cold that surrounded the spinning rings.

"There's a hovercar outside the doorway. Until it is secure on the receptacle there, you cannot break concentration. If the rings fail, we will die a very painful death."

That only made Brianna frown more while she watched Visas ready herself. "Something akin to having our bodies broken down into mush? Like the plasteel over there?"

Dana smirked again. "Far worse."

Visas took a calming breath. She could feel the resistance of the resin while attempting to concentrate on it more directly, but there was a noticeable difference with the other two focused on it as well. "Ready."

"As am I."

After one last glance between them, Dana closed her eyes. Just long enough to perceive the true nature of the spark itself one last time. The dying ember of darkness, flickering in what had almost been its last breath.

In that same moment, Visas shuddered with a quiet gasp, but maintained her fierce focus on the task at hand nonetheless.

That went about as well as any could hope, none of the three faltered for a moment, and the spark itself was placed on the receptacle without issue. While the hovercar itself began travelling rather slowly towards the nearest landing bay, Surik approached them at last with a small nod of approval.

"You're absolutely certain it won't cause damage where it's headed?"

Dana was about to shrug, but quickly changed to a nod when noting herself. "So long as it is not locked away in some deep dark room it will be fine. Considering that I'm entirely reliant on your word…"

"If I haven't already made good on that, Dana, then there's little else I can do to convince you."

She nodded to two guards who moved to escort Dana back to her room. Once they were out of earshot, she sighed to herself and put the smile back on for Brianna's sake. "Charming, isn't she?"

"If you say so."

When that failed, she looked to Visas instead, that smile quickly fading when she noticed that something had disturbed her. "Mind giving us a moment, Brianna?"

The most she got was a belated sigh from her while she walked off as well, leaving the pair to talk in relative privacy at last.

"You saw something, right? Was it the artifact, or-"

"The woman, yes. I saw brief visions of her past, just enough to understand why she is so cold. I don't believe it was something she did deliberately."

Surik nodded in her solemn way, taking hold of her arm. "She told Bastila and I most of it under a very strict promise of silence. Dana might be more receptive if you tell her about this soon, but if that fails you at least know who to consult for help while I'm on Korriban."

"I'm supposed to make friends with her now? I can't say I like her demeanour any more than what I've seen of Sereti so far."

"Diplomacy is part of being a Jedi. I wouldn't ask you to reach out if I didn't have confidence in your capabilities, would I?" She took the moment to recall who Sereti was, scoffing just a little when she did. "Personally I'd prefer the ambiguously cooperative to the blunt uncooperative. What makes you bring her up like that?"

"A rather unpleasant display earlier. I attained the impression that she is looking for something in her life to criticize endlessly. That or she is simply bad-tempered and takes a delight in being obtuse."

"We're still talking about Sereti, right?"

"Who else would I be referring to?"

Surik sighed again, her hand falling away from the hold to instead drag down over her mouth in a long thought. It eventually occurred to her that an opportunity was at hand. "I realize this may be abrupt, but I'd like you to take on more administrative duties, at least while I'm on Korriban. Get to know the others more, sort out potential issues, and work with Bastila to guide the Jedi we're set on moving to higher positions within the Order. Leave the Luka Sene for someone else to handle if you prefer."

After a pause for thought of her own, Visas gave a nod and began to step away. "They're my people, out of everyone I can't ignore them specifically. I'll find a way to get through to Sereti, somehow."

* * *

To her dismay, the first place she decided to look was exactly where she found Sereti. That place being the exact same balcony. At the very least it appeared that Sereti herself had changed position. If only the same could be said for her attitude.

"Done ratting me out to Aibrehl?"

"He came to me, I answered his questions. And now I want the same from you." Rather than joining her by the balcony again, she calmly folded her arms and waited for the younger woman to answer.

The ethereal stare being laid on her eventually forced Sereti to groan in frustration. "I can't answer a question that hasn't been asked!"

"I thought it was obvious. Some of my friends might take the opportunity to make horrible remarks about you, but that has never been to my taste."

She waited again, this time for Sereti to turn and face her properly before finally stating the question itself. "You were needlessly hostile to me earlier, why exactly?"

"Oh, you're right, the question is obvious! And so is the answer!"

Visas drummed her fingers on her arm a few times before briefly ducking her head in the realization. "The fact that I served the Sith for a little over a year has you up in arms. Strange, I distinctly recall the purpose of the Luka Sene to be entirely about redemption, not condemnation."

That made Sereti twist back around, flicks of her light hair coming loose from the headband in her moment of anger. She barely overcame it by redirecting that anger into fiercely gripping the railing before her.

"Why? What drove you to serve the Sith? They invaded Alpheridies and Dakkan, wiped out Katarr!" She gripped the railing harder, her temper rising. "And you went and joined them after all that, only to defect to the Jedi after changing your mind without so much as a word of apology!?"

All Visas could do was take deep, calming breaths of her own. The anguish she had only just felt she had moved past was being dredged right back up. Her own assertion that she didn't care in the slightest about what Sereti said now seemed completely hollow. A desire to not be coddled had ironically left her blind to the opposite of that very notion.

"I doubt there is anyone who has more reason to despise the Sith than I amongst our people. For what they did to Katarr, to my parents, brother and friends." When she noticed Sereti's anger beginning to subside, she stepped forward, her tone taking on a cold edge to it. "But you're clearly too young to comprehend just how twisted and insidious the machinations of the dark side can truly be. How it can invert the hated for the man that caused all that pain into a soul destroying desire to serve under him. You have no right to judge me."

The conviction in her voice was harsh, and for once, Sereti didn't have a quip to throw back at her, even in a defensive way. Her mouth hung slightly open for a while until the words finally found themselves for her again.

"I assumed…" Her lips closed up again to better hide her nervous swallow. "Friends of mine were taken by Malak's Sith, some of them willingly. When we heard Nihilus had a Miraluka apprentice, we assumed you were one of them. How else would you get to such a high position so quickly?"

Visas found herself in the position she needed at last. The truth was known to few, and it was better that way. The tragedy of what really happened simply wouldn't hold the same weight in what she needed to teach others, compared to the tale she had begun to form in mind.

"I was off-world at the time. I went there to take revenge, and through that he broke me before I even arrived. Perhaps in absorbing so many of our kind, he saw potential in those that were left." One last shuddering sigh had her set on the point to be made. "There are very few who are truly willing in their fall to the dark side, who go in with full awareness of what they are doing. This is something that must be understood in regards to what we intend to accomplish with this new Jedi Order. Why we are now pushing with all intent to redeem those we can."

Sereti's initial regret at her words began to wear off. Her assumption about her attitude was wrong certainly, but for whatever reason that didn't make her feel more settled in her presence.

"That doesn't mean they can just be absolved of past crimes. What happens to accountability?"

After twisting her lips in further thought, Visas gave one last shrug and prepared to leave. "That comes down to the individual, whether they've already suffered enough, and what they did as Sith. If you think the Jedi will be too lenient, I suggest you attend Atris' trial."

She left at that, shuddering again in a barely visible way. While she wasn't the one who had to see a former master reduced to the level of an accused, it left a sick feeling in her gut nonetheless.


	4. Masadar - Walking Through Shadow

"The best way to achieve constant focus is to pick something neutral, and think about it whenever an emotion begins to surface."

Juhani drew in her breath. At that moment, her focus was on Ahto City, about as neutral a place as she could imagine.

"I see it. The white architecture, endless blue sea..."

It didn't take long for Masadar to determine what she was referring to. "That's not what I meant by… Nevermind, stick with that."

Using some guidance from Visas, he took the moment to look over at Surik in the cockpit, who was quite obviously grinning at them despite appearing to be focused on flying the Ebon Hawk itself, and being some distance away from them. Choosing to take it as a sign of encouragement, he looked back to Juhani while resuming his meditative posture.

"You exist, the object… place exists, and the Force exists. There is no harm, no fear, no danger."

There was a flinch from Juhani

"You are alone in the void. The Force flows between you and the place, drawing away passion, leaving behind peace."

Juhani herself opened her eyes for a few moments, needing that moment to readjust herself to a more comfortable arrangement. When done, she closed her eyes again.

"You breathe in, the Force breathes out."

And she did just that, taking long breaths, letting the turbulent thoughts at the back of her mind wash away into the waves of Manaan. For all of a few seconds until the moment was broken.

She hissed to herself in a downward glance, muttering something in her native language, then began the uncomfortable task of untangling her legs again. And yet, she still took notice of Masadar's expression of failure on his part.

"My apologies, for a moment there I did feel peace. I think it will take more than a few attempts to have any lasting effect."

"It's quite alright. I've only had a few years to really develop it from study after all. So long as it works to begin with."

The familiar jolt of leaving hyperspace made both stumble. Shortly after, the faint sense of dread began to creep in.

"It seems we've arrived."

Masadar followed her out of the starboard quarters back to the cockpit, hesitating for a moment when she moved out of the way for him to approach Surik herself.

"Not much to look at, but seeing as this is your first visit Masadar, why don't you take a seat."

He did just that, brushing his lekku in front of his shoulders before settling into the copilot chair. Ahead lay the foreboding red wasteland of Korriban. Even after years of working towards mental balance, and readying himself over the past week since the call, he still felt apprehensive.

Juhani's reaction was just the same, her breath cold while she tried not to think too hard about what she had felt there earlier. "The in-fighting must have been terrible indeed. It did not look nearly as desolate when those of us with Revan left."

"They've had five years to tear the place up and take what they can. I'm still a little surprised that Sith got stuck there to begin with. Not to mention the irony."

"What irony?"

"You know, Sith stuck on the Sith homeworld, asking for Jedi to rescue them…"

Surik ignored the awkward silence that followed by focusing entirely on the surface approach. Dreshdae looked even worse than it had been a month earlier on her last visit. Metal sheets and other structural pieces had been torn off and strewn across the place. Some were piled up at specific places which she soon realized were doorways. Barricaded from which direction she couldn't tell at that altitude.

Getting lower down only seemed to remove options for landing zones. The original spaceport was in a poor state, not impossible to use, but still bad from a tactical standpoint. After all, she couldn't take the Sith entirely at the word.

The first fly-by only confirmed the dreary assumptions made on the approach. Beyond the building itself lay a trashed colony. Some of the damage had been done by lightsaber, some by fierce beast attack, and some apparently by sandstorm of all things.

Her search soon began to expand beyond the colony walls, headed away from the valley. Not far beyond the outer gate was a relatively clear area. "I don't particularly feel like hiking back up to the academy. Eyes out for beasts, and whatever else is left."

There was an unmistakable chill that passed through when they landed on the surface. For Masadar, it carried more than just the constant concern about tangling with the dark side. Something far more tragic.

"A lot of people died at Sith hands here. Just, ordinary people." He pulled his composure together to rise from his seat with a bit more confidence, looking to Surik for a bit. "I didn't sense any of this around Algwinn when he arrived. He must have been here long enough to learn to ignore it."

She glanced back at him while making final arrangements to lock down the ship. "I don't think any of us want to wait around that long anyway." Once done, she brought up the transceiver controls. "Ebon Hawk to Rescue Aure and Rescue Besh; landed safely, no immediate sign of life. Hold orbit until next transmission."

Before leaving the ship itself, she motioned for HK-47 in the maintenance hold to follow, letting the other two move out ahead of her.

"Stand guard outside viewing angles of the settlement. If anyone tries to sneak aboard, stun them only. And no complaining about killing them instead, understood?"

"Exasperation: Oh, if you insist Master. It truly shames me to have my talents remain squandered on 'guard duty'."

Surik rolled her eyes."There might be some beasts lurking around, you're free to kill those. I think they'd be challenging enough."

She left before he could protest, catching up to the pair who by then had reached the outer gate. Now finally up close, the various marks of destruction were very obvious. Beasts, weather and weapons fire had all run rampant through the settlement at some point. It was also a lot easier to determine that the gate itself had definitely been reinforced from within.

"Revan killed off the terentatek here, right Juhani?"

Juhani glanced over with a short look of concern. Her hand was tracing through a particularly large claw mark. "We did, with great effort and some useful tricks from Canderous. That one is definitely dead."

The doubt wasn't lost on Masadar, who instinctively felt for his lightsaber. "And by 'that one', you mean there could be others about anyway."

After examining the mark further, Juhani sighed and moved on in her search for a weakness in the barricade. "That was merely the worst of the Sith beasts. I would not be surprised if there are lesser species wandering the surface."

She drew her lightsaber when such a weakness was found. A few careful cuts created a hole large enough for them alone to pass through.

As if the barricade itself wasn't grim enough, the various skeletal remains of people both humanoid and alien were scattered throughout the colony itself. More worryingly was the lack of bestial remains.

What was as expected was the complete lack of weapons or useful items. Every corpse had been picked clean a long while ago.

The morbidity reached its peak at the spaceport building itself. The barricade there was facing outward, bearing metal lengths crudely sharpened into spears, and no small amount of dried blood beneath the dust. Below the spears were yet more bones.

"Barbaric. As if leaving them outside to die of thirst was not horrific enough."

Masadar rested a hand on Juhani's shoulder. The disgust she felt was gradually mellowed out by his inner calm, passing the struggle onto himself for her sake.

"They'll be judged accordingly. Don't forget that."

"Over here, quick."

Both looked past the barricade to where Surik had moved to. By then, she had gotten to work in opening up a crawl-through that had since been covered over.

"They didn't do much to block it up. And it was cut from the inside." She made a cautionary glance into the room beyond before crawling through. After finding an empty room, she ducked back down to call for the others. "Come through carefully. I'd rather that we not startle them."

Masadar went through next, wincing briefly when he grazed his lekku against the top of the crawl-through. Once back on his feet, he was met with the bleak sight of the reception area, again stripped of useful components and the like, but otherwise free of blood and bodies.

"Czerka must have held out against the colonists who tried to flee. Which begs the question as to why Sith were left behind."

He got no answer from either of the two women, who were both more concerned about making their way through the spaceport cautiously. With a shrug, he followed on after them.

Compared to the outside world, the relatively clean, albeit dim corridors of the spaceport itself felt more suspect for that fact. There were clear signs of fighting in the colony, and doubtless they would find more at the academy. And yet, the only place that allowed escape from the planet seemed to have escaped the worst in spite of logical value.

After finally reaching an intersection, Surik stopped. "If you sense anyone, call out to them. I don't want this to end in a bloodbath because someone got spooked. Now, where do we go from here?"

Juhani moved ahead to look down both corridors, and at the door directly ahead, hummed to herself, then pointed to the left. "This way leads to the cantina and academy I believe. The other would lead back to the internal landing zone."

"You sure?"

"No, but passing years after a single visit is not good for the sense of direction in an unpleasant place." She approached the doors ahead, noting a small gap between them that allowed her to see what remained of a store. "Left is definitely the way, I am certain now."

It was made irrelevant by the doorway down the left corridor opening up anyway. From the top of the ramp, they could only see the legs and boots of someone in an Imperial uniform.

"Why didn't you come from the valley?"

All three looked to each other in turn. That was undoubtedly Rilana's voice. After some confused gestures, Surik finally motioned for the others to stay back while she made the descent.

"Didn't feel like another hike. Took a while for you to notice if you have lookouts. Some sort of hidden sensor up at the colony entrance then?"

She had a pretty clear view of Rilana at the bottom of the ramp. A younger Twi'lek than she had expected from the conversation over a week earlier, and yet the actual rank pins on her uniform were way above what she could have possibly attained. Even considering the obvious disarray, that fact stuck out to her as odd, almost as much as her calm demeanour.

"How many Jedi then, here right now? I'm not letting any of my people walk into a trap here."

Surik stopped just before the threshold of the cantina. From there she could see Rilana's eyes, entirely lacking the telling red or amber of Sith. She spoke as if in charge, and still had a limited connection to the dark side. Strange indeed.

"Three, including myself."

"I want to see them. No stealth fields, no tricks."

The smirk returned when she looked back up the ramp, nodding to Masadar and Juhani. While still very much concerned about things that weren't adding up, agitating Rilana with that kind of look wouldn't be a good move.

Unfortunately, agitation was exactly what came over her when she saw Juhani.

"You, you were with Revan! When he came through and murdered my friends and tutors!"

Juhani looked to Masadar, who readied himself, then back to Rilana once she was at Surik's side. "I do not recall seeing you here. And might I remind you that we were not the instigators to begin with."

"That's not an excuse!"

Her hands clenched. A faint flare of red began to emerge from her pupil. The black lightsaber on her hip edged out of its hook.

That was enough reason for Masadar to take action, moving a step ahead of the other two, hands well away from making any kind of tricking gesture.

"You need to calm down. We really are here to help. Whatever happened in the past is irrelevant, this is the time for-"

A cold gust blew around his lekku when Rilana glared at him directly. The red in her eyes began to spread.

"Stop it! Whatever you're doing! Get out of my head!"

Rilana went for her lightsaber, despite being hopelessly outmatched.

That was all Surik needed to conclude her suspicions. She held the moment of action for as long as she could, projecting her plan to the others so that they could all react in sync. A way to safely disarm her without any harm done.

Her hand whipped out to grab the lightsaber right from Rilana. Juhani hurled her up against the wall to their left with a concentrated gesture, leaving Masadar to keep her restrained under a stasis projection.

"Desperate move." Surik slid the lightsaber behind her back while she moved over to look at Rilana directly. Her eyes had lost the red tint altogether. "Well? Explain yourself."

She didn't expect tears to begin welling up in the young Twi'leks eyes, but there they were.

"Don't kill them… Please, don't kill them."

Masadar gasped when the emotional shift hit him. Rather than the expected bitterness, anger and revulsion he had found in other Sith, he was feeling overwhelming fear for others. The sort he had often felt around Bastila when caring for her son.

"By the gods…" He dropped the stasis projection, catching Rilana when she fell from the wall. "We're not child killers, Rilana. Regardless of how they've been brought up, we have to help them."

Surik grabbed his shoulder. "Child… There are children here? On Korriban?"

Rilana tried to struggle free of Masadar's hold, to little avail as he was surprisingly strong. Tears were now streaming down until she ended up burying her face into his arm.

That didn't stop Surik from prying her away by a fierce hold on her shoulders. "Answer me Rilana! Why are there children here? What was Darth Malak planning to do with them?"

"Surik stop! She's about to faint!"

There was a notable heat lingering on her fingertips when she let the Twi'lek go at last. It wasn't from how hard she had grabbed her either. While she didn't show it, there had been a moment of anger that she had given into without even realizing.

She stepped back altogether, leaving Masadar to be the consoling presence while she went to find her centre of peace again. There was hardly any surprise when Juhani approached with her ever questioning glare.

"I'm alright… I really don't like being here." Her hand clenched up a few times, then finally relaxed out when she reached that peaceful place in her mind again. "The Neo-Crusaders loved to slave off children of all species to the Hutts. I suppose it's a wound that needs more than a decade to heal."

"It took two decades for me."

Surik's hand went to her face, partially obscuring the groan at her own failing. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot, I didn't mean-"

"Of course you didn't. I am actually rather reassured that Jedi who fought the trade then are still around now. But that is a discussion for later."

After another sigh, she turned back around and looked to the two Twi'leks. Rilana had calmed down thanks to some consolation from Masadar, whether it was through use of his talent or use of less hostile words she couldn't tell.

He was quick to notice the attention on them again. "She's only twenty three, the remaining Sith abandoned Korriban altogether about a year ago, and until Algwinn arrived she was the oldest one here since then."

"That explains the overly ranked uniform." Surik frowned in thought, almost ready to call up the Temple and rip into Algwinn instead for holding back information. The situation itself demanded her attention more than that however.

"Alright. We all go to the academy and assemble the others there. The ships land in the valley, and we can discuss the long and short once we're back on Coruscant. Giving the others a ship of their own is off the table now."

Rilana nodded quietly, still shying away from Surik, but no longer terrified of her. "Some of them think they're going to be separated from their siblings and own children."

The last implication disturbed Surik more, but she again put it out of her mind. "We're not splitting families up, I am very determined about keeping that promise. Right now it's a matter of getting off this wretched planet"

Juhani moved forward at that with a renewed tone to her voice. "Rilana, I can say with confidence that those here will not be met with uncompassionate hearts. Bastila knows this sort of pain, she would never put others through it. You have my word also on that."

Masadar tightened his lips and gave a belated shrug. "I've got nothing."

All three pairs of eyes were turned on him, which brought up a bit of expected discomfort on his part.

"I came here to keep Sith in a calm and reasonable state." He looked back at Juhani and Surik in turn when they looked at him with more intent. "Adult Sith, not children raised by them. This is untested waters for me."

For a moment, the corner of Juhani's lip tugged into something of a smile. "You do have a calming presence, and appearance for that matter, something that is greatly needed. I will admit that Cathar do not look friendly at a glance, especially to young minds who have been left frightened by all that has been their home for so long. I would not be of much use in preparing them for their overdue rescue."

He frowned at that in turn, thinking it over for a few moments, before looking back at her. "You're no good with children either!"

"Perhaps that too."

Surik ended the small argument with a gesture of her hands for silence, having brought out her communicator again. "Ebon Hawk to Rescue Aure and Rescue Besh, proceed to designated coordinates, preferably land as close to the academy as you can get. Besh crew remain ready, circumstances have changed." She looked to Rilana at that. "They'll need someone to pilot the ship after all."


	5. Bastila - A Legacy to Behold

Confronting Atris was something she had dreaded for a long time. When it had been a full Council pictured in her mind, things played out a little differently. She could be brash, abrasive even with her words. They had collectively hurt her on a deep emotional level, after all she had done from them.

Only now, it was a single woman left, someone who had fallen to the lowest point, lost everything of value. Damning words suddenly seemed bitter in her mind. She didn't want to be bitter.

She still had her son, her dignity, and now a growing number of friends again. Atris had none of that.

All of that had taken over an hour for her to work through while she paced in front of the detention centre. Many times she had apologised to or reassured the guards at the main doorway that she was in fact quite fine. A lie that she didn't even feel sorry for making any longer.

Her knuckles were quite red compared to her otherwise pale hands when she finally stopped her pacing. The nervous fidgeting left them sore from being rubbed and bumped so intently.

One last sigh was what she needed to finally make the request.

"I'm ready. Yes, I'm sure this time."

The guard to her right looked at her, to his counterpart on the left, and then back again. The silence while she stared at the door further in her fidgeting state grew heavy.

"Do you need an escort ma'am?"

"What? No, no, I'm going now."

She took another breath and stepped through. The cold grey hall of the standard holding cells that snaked around the outer segments certainly didn't ease her apprehensions, but they were at least neutral in tone. Not peaceful, but certainly not chaotic.

The ill feeling subsided just a little when she reached the medium security zone where Atris herself was being kept; a far more uplifting shade of white, while soothing ambient faintly played throughout the halls.

It was a comfort that only flared the bitterness deep within herself, despite how much she wanted to use it to calm herself.

In her mind, Atris didn't deserve comfort.

When she got to the cell itself, the first thing she noticed was the lack of a guard. The second was that she didn't even need to perform a security check before the door opened anyway. It wasn't even a sign of laziness. Whomever was overseeing their sole prisoner had clearly decided not to bother.

Her irritation at that mixed with the bitterness to form outright contempt when she finally saw Atris for herself.

Just sitting there in meditation, serene, peaceful.

It took a lot of willpower to remind herself that she had to maintain her own dignity. However necessary she felt the confrontation was, maintaining herself as a role model to the rest of the new Jedi was paramount.

"Atris."

She gasped softly when Atris' turned her head to the right almost immediately. Not so deep in meditation after all.

"Too soon for the trial, and your tone doesn't suggest that my expertise is needed. What then?"

Bastila's arms began to fold. The inner struggle was reaching a point beyond what she felt she could handle. It had to be resolved, but now came the serious doubts about whether it was worth the trouble. And if she could even see things through at all.

"Why? After all Revan and I did for the Republic, for the Jedi, why?"

Atris scoffed. "And here I was thinking you were looking for an intelligent discussion…" She rose to her feet and slowly turned around. "When rules are broken, we cannot just make exceptions on who gets punished based on heroics. I've chosen to abide by the new rules you and Surik have laid out after all. And she accepted her punishment, why shouldn't you?"

The anger rose up in Bastila for just a moment, causing her hands to clench until her knuckles turned white beneath the cover of her arms. "She wasn't seven months pregnant when she was exiled! She didn't have the weight of an impending new life on her shoulders!"

"And she had not just been abandoned by a man she had fallen for despite her better judgement?"

Her cold expression softened a little when she noticed Bastila's brief change of expression. "I am not going to stand here and be the target of your frustrations without rebuke. Getting it out of your system may feel necessary, but you cannot blame me for all the grievances you have with the now dead Council, with your long gone husband, and with the choices you have made throughout your life. Stop acting like a child."

She began to turn back, intent on returning to her meditation. "You've got one of your own now after all."

It left Bastila in a fuming silence. She was far from done, and yet she felt like anything more she tried to say would be thrown back in her face or shut down altogether. And that exemplified things further.

"I am not acting like a child, Atris. I came here to get answers I have sought for the past five years, to look you in the eye and make you understand just what I've been through."

"It pales in comparison to what I have seen in the eyes of others."

"Shut up. I will say my peace and be done with this." By then, she didn't even care that Atris was choosing not to acknowledge her anymore. "I tried my damndest to live up to the ideals of the Jedi. But abandoning me when I was at my most vulnerable moment with the most pathetic of reasons very nearly made me renounce them altogether. I've come to realize that the idea of pursuing enlightenment through isolating ourselves from each other creates common ground between Jedi and Sith. That of the uncaring, self-absorbed hollow being I see before me."

"Yes, we both know what the common ground between Jedi and Sith is, don't we? How wrong of me to assume that would give us a better understanding of each other."

She finally returned to her kneeling position, only then making one last glance back over her shoulder at Bastila. "You wholly endorse the trial then. Good. You both need to show the new Jedi as a whole that the last reminder of the old ways has been discredited, thereby validating the new ways you two have formed together. It is a collaborative effort after all?"

There was no response to her sarcasm.

Bastila had stormed out by then, leaving the doors to lock themselves behind her. Even the guards at the doorway were given little more than a frown on her way out. Saying her peace had done anything but make her feel relieved.

Her frustrated wanderings led her to the gardens where Vaner was being looked after. While not immediately soothed, the pleasant sight of newly blooming plant life did reassure her somewhat. Until she heard a voice echoing from the pond area.

"Why are you so insolent? I am trying my best to communicate, and this is the behaviour I get in return?"

She picked up pace, almost rushing to find out who was having difficulty with her son. It didn't sound like Merena's voice, and that had her concerned.

The concern waned when she heard Vaner's laughter shortly after. Now closer, she also recognized Yuthura's voice, holding a one sided argument that was always followed by more laughter.

"What is she doing…"

Upon rounding the corner, she saw Vaner sitting on a bench and laughing hysterically while Yuthura was down on one knee glaring at the pond right in front of her. A fish in the pond itself splashed at her after another indignant remark.

"I don't believe this! Do you take joy in mocking me, is that it?"

"Am I interrupting?"

Yuthura had a moment of panic when she realized she was being watched, hastily standing up while brushing her knee off. "Surik believes the fish have a degree of intelligence. I'm still skeptical."

"And that's why you're arguing with them?"

She gave Bastila a blank stare, glancing at Vaner once. "Your son finds it funny. I didn't know how else to keep him occupied." Her eyes flicked about the otherwise empty gardens at that. "Merena was called away urgently and neglected to mention what she does."

"Sing Twi'lek songs I believe."

Yuthura made a disparaged face.

"I think she has a lovely singing voice."

"That may be so, but it is one thing we don't have in common."

Bastila turned her head away. Just another unwanted reminder that left the conversation fresh in her memory.

"What? You've never heard me sing, and I don't intend to inflict that on anyone."

After a comforting breath, she turned back, mostly to pick Vaner up from the bench before he had a chance to wander off. "I just came from a rather unpleasant meeting with Atris. It didn't turn out quite how I had hoped."

Yuthura whipped her head around when one of the fish splashed again, grumbling to herself before trying to put on her more concerned look for Bastila's sake. "Was she offensive? Hurtful?"

Bastila's own expression became pained. "She was right. Harsh, but right. About me having the wrong reasons for going there." She looked down at Vaner and hoisted him up again into a more comfortable hold. To her relief he was quite settled in her arms for once. "I think I need time to think it over. Perhaps I'm letting my own personal frustrations get in the way of the fact that this is about Katarr, not how I've been treated in the past."

"It's not unnatural, Bastila, and no-one could ever blame you for it. I'd go so far as to say I admire your perseverance. I never had a newborn son to care for in years of adversity after all."

She took that last bit from Yuthura to heart while heading towards the nearest exit from the gardens. After a few slow steps, she half turned and looked back to her, a question lingering on her mind.

"When you think of the changes made to the Jedi Order, who comes to mind as being behind them?"

The question was very unexpected for Yuthura, almost stunned by how abrupt it was. And already there was the distinct impression it was very recently prompted, possibly by Atris herself.

"I think of all of you. I'm just another old soul doing her best to fit in with the way things have to be. Traditions have to evolve eventually, and I'm comfortable saying it's been long overdue. And there are plenty of voices ready to shape these new traditions for those to come."

Bastila nodded, and began to turn back around, unknowingly giving Vaner a chance to wave goodbye to Yuthura, when in that moment he was the last thing on her mind.

"All I see is Surik rolling out the changes, on my behalf. I don't recall making that many myself…"


	6. Masadar - Promises Without Merit Reward

The beat of lakra steps was a signal to the villagers that one of their own was approaching. While many used speeders to cross the tenuous lands stretching between the villages and cities on the surface, many Twi'lek themselves had come to prefer the robust nature of the beasts against the Ryloth climate, and oftentimes found worthwhile companions amongst the more intelligent individuals of the species.

When the first to gather at the cavern entrance caught sight of the rider, excited chatter and waving began to spread. He was dressed in Jedi robes, and that pointed to one person in particular.

"Masadar! Masadar!"

Smiles and waves of his own were abound while he rode in through the great bulkhead doors past the first to greet him. It was still early into the designated day cycle, and so quite a few of the villagers were moving about the many levels of the cavern, most down to the marketplace that was already bustling with the sounds and smells of food in preparation.

He brought the lakra to a slower pace once he reached the residential district, as there were more children to be found there. They too were caught up in the awe of a Jedi, to which he could still only smile and move on without pause or a word.

After several months away from home, that was his first priority.

Tucked away on one of the upper levels was the door leading to the home he had shared with Rilana for nearly twenty years now.

He dismounted the lakra in a smooth motion, rubbing over her snout with a whisper of affection in Ryl while tying the reins to a nearby post. While she settled into a helping of fungus, he made his way over to the door and pushed it open gently.

To his surprise, and mild pride, Tegama was sitting in the main room with her education program in full swing. She hadn't actually noticed his arrival yet, but given it was intended to be a surprise, that was just about exactly how he hoped to find her.

When a suitable pause came up in the program, he stepped inside at last. "Doing well I hope my sweetness?"

Tegama's head whipped around. A smile grew right over her face as she leapt up and dashed across the room to catch Masadar in an excited hug.

"Papa! You didn't tell me you were coming!"

Masadar swept her up into his arms, and almost immediately came to regret it when he realized how much she had grown in the past months, his face blushing heavily until he was able to set her back down again. "Wow, you're really coming along huh?"

There was an indignant huff from below. "Don't be mean Pa, I'm not that heavy!"

He reached up to his forehead, rubbing around slowly while he debated that in his mind. "I didn't mean that Tega. You're just…" There was a trace of sweat upon seeing her questioning glare. "Much taller than I remember."

That still wasn't enough for him to avoid a soft punch to the thigh, which he responded to by gesturing at her lekku to make them rise up above her head. Something she often complained about for feeling ticklish, and always worked as a method of winning their occasional arguments.

"Pa please." This time she was insistent, grabbing at her lekku to pull them back down and frowning at him more. "I'm nearly fifteen. You haven't forgotten, right?"

"Of course I haven't sweetness." He finally moved past to set some of his belongings down in the threshold of his bedroom before returning to her. "I'm heading over to Rotua City in a few hours. Tomorrow evening I'll be back with your mother and brothers. We all have something special planned for you."

Tegama pouted while sitting back up on her favoured spot on the lounge. "Masaka's not coming home?"

"She's on Illum right now Tega, almost literally on the other side of the galaxy." Masadar was quick to notice her disappointment, and moved to the seat beside her to place a warm arm around her. "I'm sorry that it's a disappointment, but she was very excited to make the journey and obtain her lightsaber crystal. I promise every single one of us will be here for your next birthday."

After a sigh, she leaned over against him, enjoying that warm embrace. "Okay Pa. I understand."

"There's my girl. Now, how about I get lunch sorted before I head out, mm?"

Tegama squeezed her arms around him again before letting go, hands resting in her lap while she watched him make his way over to the kitchen.

"Oh right, I was gonna wait for everyone, but I guess since you're here now. I was wondering if I could ask someone over for birthday feast."

"Well of course. I would like to clear it with his parents first."

There was a brief silence while Tegama tapped her feet together. "Her parents, Pa. You know that Lethan girl, Nurrina?"

She felt a rising tension when leaning over to glance into the kitchen. Masadar had a look of concern about him.

"Pa, Pa please… Don't say it…"

"What?" He looked over at her in silence for a few moments, then finally came to the realization of what she was thinking and dismissed it with a shrug. "I was actually rather looking forward to you bringing home a nice Twi'lek boy so I could look him in the eye and say-" And he put on a deeper, more manly voice at that moment. "'Take good care of my daughter, or you'll have to answer to me' or some such." He dropped back to his normal voice with a bit of a cough. "I don't think I could say that to a nice Twi'lek girl though, I'd feel too mean for it. Being an overprotective father only works man to man after all."

The tension was lifted from Tegama right after that, who shook her head with a small laugh in relief. "That's okay. She's got a spiky collar, has lots of tattoos, and says these strange creepy words when no-one's looking, being Lethan after all. I'm sure you won't have a problem intimidating her."

Masadar's jaw dropped, his entire face going pale in a moment of shock.

"I'm kidding Pa! You're so gullible!"

She walked over again while he recovered from that prank to embrace him once again, this time with her cheek resting against him. "She only has tattoos."

"Tega…"

"For eyebrows! Like me."

Masadar sighed again, slowly turning and kneeling down in front of her so that they were eye to eye. "Tega, my sweetness, I only want to know you are happy and safe. Admittedly, this makes 'the talk' a lot more awkward, since your, uh, preference isn't my area of expertise…"

"Pa no! Please!"

"I'm only half kidding." Once she had recovered from her own dose of being shocked, his tone became a bit more serious. "That comes when you're sixteen. And not a moment before, understood?"

Tegama nodded.

"Good. Nothing wrong with holding hands, or kissing, but I draw the line at stroking lekku at your age. In private. I'm trusting you to be good in that regard."

"Yes Pa."

Masadar smiled at last, planting a soft kiss on her forehead before standing back up. "I'm always proud of you Tega. And I'm not just saying that because you're actually keeping up with your studies. I have a fair idea of what it's like to grow up without involvement from parents for most of your life, and you've handled it far better than I did. I promise things will change in a year's time. There's a lot more than the world of adulthood waiting for you there."

He turned back to the counter at last. "Anything else you wanted to tell me, or ask? We've got time enough today."

Tegama shook her head. "That's all Pa. Thank you."

"Now then, is it back to studies, or spending time with your friends? Perhaps you could introduce me to Nurrina now so that I can judge whether she deserves the speech or not."

Tegama had returned to her seat by then, ready to resume her study program "She doesn't Pa. We look out for each other. Especially on hunting trips with Uncle Yosin."

At that, Masadar paused again, this time reaching up to his forehead. Twice now he had insisted that his brother not take teenagers on his trips, and it seemed he was still being ignored.

"I suppose he's taught you both about blaster rifles. At the very least all the safety procedures about their use."

By then, Tegama had begun to really notice his tone of disapproval. But she certainly couldn't lie to her own father. "We use slugthrowers actually. He says they're much cleaner and more efficient."

At that, Masadar dropped his tools and walked back into the room, once again kneeling in front of her. "Tegama, it just worries me a little, that's all. As part of a family Jedi, hearing words that relate to killing coming from you is frightening, especially before you're even fifteen." He sighed softly and placed a hand on her knee, noting her slightly fearful look. "The beasts of Ryloth may be vicious, but they are still living beings. It is often necessary to defend ourselves from them. Just don't let your uncle convince you that it is a sport without any consequence. Hunting should be for food, or for defence."

He noted her lowering head with a another sigh, his hand moving up to lift her chin back up. "You are of course free to form your own opinion Tega, I would never force my views on anyone in this family. And so long as you are learning valuable life lessons, such as understanding the many dangers of various weapons, that is at least something well worth it."

"You'll teach me how to use a lightsaber then?"

Masadar got back up, this time with a gentle rub over her head. "Next year, I promise." He looked over his shoulder at the study terminal. After some thought, he leaned over to switch it off. "Go have fun with your friends. I'll let you know when I have an hour left before I leave, you can bring Nurrina over then. Alright?"

Tegama nodded once more, moving out from her seat to retrieve her headdress from her room. When she came back out with it in place, Masadar had already returned to the kitchen yet again.

"I'm sure you'll like her Pa. She beats up all the boys who try to tease us when we kiss until they run away. Then we kiss more to really rub it in."

"You're a real prankster sweetness. Take care."

Not long after, Tegama was making her way down the small staircase that cut into the rockface itself for easier passage to the cavern floor. It didn't take much searching from there to find Nurrina. She was watching over the maintenance of a speeder. A pair of legs with grease stains over the trousers was sticking out from underneath it.

"How's it going?"

There was a thud, and a cry of pain from Kip who slowly shuffled himself back out from underneath the speeder. "Tega? That you up there?"

"Why yes it is."

Tegama grinned as Nurrina settled in beside her, both moving an arm around to hold each other by the waist. "Pa came back just now. We talked for a while, and he said I could have today off from study."

By then, Kip had freed himself from the speeder's manky innards. When he lifted his big black goggles up off his eyes, there was a comical lack of grease and dirt around them in a hard line. All he did was roll his head about when the two girls began to giggle.

"Feel like helping me out then? Osrod was supposed to be helping me today, but he got called out to one of the cities. I can barely fix these as is!"

After taking one look at the mess, Tegama wrinkled her nose and sighed. "I suppose I can give it a go. So long as I don't have to climb in under there."

Kip grumbled, but put his goggles back on anyway. "Fine. If handing me tools is all you're good for-"

"Hey, I just put this on!" She adjusted her headdress slightly, sighing a little when Kip grumbled more on his way back under the speeder. "It's all icky and gross anyway."

Nurrina giggled at that before planting a kiss on her cheek. "Can't spoil your nice skin either with all that grit."

"I could use a hydrospanner. You know, when you two stop snogging."

Tegama rolled her eyes, but did eventually slip from the mutual hold to find the hydrospanner in question. "Which one? There's like fifty different long metal things."

"Hexagonal! Blue label! About the length of your arm!"

After some searching, she finally located what appeared to be the tool in question. It was a lot heavier than she expected, to the point of nearly slipping from her fingers when she bent down to pass it into the hand sticking out towards her.

"So, Tega, did you tell your father?"

Tegama looked over at Nurrina for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not sure he'd approve. He seemed kinda upset about us going on hunts. Not so much because of learning how to shoot the guns themselves, I think he's just wanting me to be a little more Jedi-like in not killing stuff for fun or whatever. Not that I'd become a soldier for the fun of it."

"I meant about 'us', but okay."

"Oh he's fine with 'us', why wouldn't he be?"

Nurrina nodded, biting her lip briefly while moving away from the speeder in case Kip kicked her ankle out of frustration. "You'll have to tell him sometime. Must be scary with him being on the Council and in touch with all the big people. Lucky to go more than a day after the academy gets your application before he finds out."

"I haven't sent it yet. Still working out just what sector I wanna join." She glanced back over at the table to retrieve a welder that she also placed in Kip's waiting hand. "I could always join one of the medical sectors. Then it's entirely self-defence if I've got to do it. Besides, at this point the most any soldier gets to do is stand around on some backwater world that's got a problem like scavengers, or wild animals, or whatever. Rest of the time I could be helping out with disaster relief. Just like the Jedi."

With a small smile, Nurrina moved again, this time to take Tegama's hands in her own, touching foreheads with her. "I think if he knows why you want to join, he'll understand. Maybe he can even get you a good position when he comes around to the idea. I'll help explain if you like."

Tegama smiled as well, leaning up slightly so they nudged noses as well. "I'd like that."

"You're snogging again!"

"No we aren't!"

"You're about to then!"

Nurrina kicked the closest of Kip's boots, which made him bang his head yet again.

"Just fix the speeder already so Tega and I can go down to the lake."

"You're not taking it for a joyride! Unlike you two I do actually work for customers!"

Tegama took her turn to kick his boot, this time without yet another head bump as a result. "Well of course not. We'll borrow yours. You won't mind surely."

There was more grumbling before Kip emerged yet again, looking at them both through his goggles. "What happened to you two? When did I become the butt of all the jokes?"

"When we fell for each other? We both still like having you around, but now it's so easy to tease you."

Nurrina hummed for a bit more thought, eventually lifting a finger to tap him in the forehead. "It started when you decided to become a greaseboy. Yeah, that sounds about right."

Kip grumped again, tossing his gloves off to a nearby table and then removing his goggles at last. "I knew it shouldn't have been a friend trio. I'm a literal third wheel."

After another small chuckle, Tegama grabbed a nearby cloth to wipe his cheek down with so that she could kiss it. There was still an unpleasant taste left behind, but she did her best to not gawk for his sake, merely wiping her sleeve across her lips.

"You're still our friend, we do like having you around. Things…" She glanced at Nurrina. "Things just turned out a little different than we thought, alright?"

After another grumble to himself, and smearing grease back over the area that had been wiped mostly clean, Kip finally sighed. "Can you blame me for being a little bothered? I'd go stir crazy with boredom without this apprenticeship the amount you two fawn over each other."

"Well we've always got the trips with my uncle, I'm sure you can make more friends with others that come along. He's planning on doing flight lessons soon as well."

"Just try to ease up on all the lovey dovey stuff, alright? It's a little overbearing." And with that, Kip returned to the warehouse section of the workshop, closing the door behind him in a firm way.

Tegama chewed at her lip for a few moments before looking to Nurrina again. "Maybe he's right. Teasing the boys is fun and all, but if it really is getting a bit much. Not like we have to stop altogether after all."

"Of course not."

"And this isn't some stranger that's bothered and pressuring us into it. Childhood friend with a minor request is very different." She sighed at last, pulling Nurrina into a gentle embrace. "I like being with you, talking about our relationship. I feel mature."

"I am over a year older, not surprised some of that is finally rubbing off on you."

That made Tegama nudge her in the stomach with a teasing grin. "Sure, that must be exactly why." After a moment, she looked over at the workshop door, then back to Nurrina. "Pa wanted to meet you properly before he left for the night. We could go now?"

"If you like. The lake isn't going anywhere after all."

* * *

It was several hours later when Masadar finally left the village on his lakra, racing back up to speed in the direction of Rotua City. He was happier than ever with the opportunity to spend time with his daughter, and catch up on all that had happened in the village since his last visit, and his positive mood was making the lakra herself equally happy to press on through the twilight surface.

He didn't sense the presence of several beings in the dense forest outside the city gates, their reflective eyes blending in well with some of the luminescent plantlife that had gradually spread across from the dark side of Ryloth over time.

The leader of that group, Kusrag, lowered a pair of binoculars from his eyes at long last, setting them aside to bring up his wrist communicator.

"The Jedi has departed for Rotua City. Calculated at an estimated five hour journey. In eight hours we begin the assault. Ready the transports, and inform Toka the Hutt that we will have the shipment ready on schedule."

He lowered his wrist back down while a grin formed below the cover of his helmet.

"The King wants a good variety of slaves. Girls from eight to eighteen, boys from five to thirteen, run candidates by me for selection. Ready shock bolas and stun rifles. If any of the adults give you trouble, cripple them."

He then made a quick inspection of the whip attached to his belt, grinning wider at the thought of being able to use it at long last. "They will also make good practise for whipping technique. So long as you don't kill any of them, the Republic will have no grounds to stop us. Our time has come at long last."

* * *

In those eight hours, more and more slavers joined the group waiting outside the village entrance. There were at least four dozen by the time word came in that the cage transports were in position around the mountain face. It was all too easy, the Twi'lek themselves hadn't even bothered to set up watch posts beyond the pair at the gates themselves.

When the rotation cycle came at last, marking the beginning of sleeping hours, they moved.

Four speeders roared into life, dashing right over the others while they got down for cover. Two slavers to each vehicle, the first eight rode right through the opening and downed the guards before they had a chance to set the gate mechanisms in operation with sequential bolas that left them writhing in pain.

Another twelve speeders followed on shortly after. The first two carried magnetic charges that would prevent the doors from being closed manually. The rest wielded all variety of shock weapons to begin pacifying the local populace.

That was when Kusrag himself stood up, disruptor pistol in one hand, whip ready in the other.

"Rise up! Move! Tonight we grind these Twi'lek skug to the level they belong at! In the dirt underfoot!"

At the first sight of the village itself, he cackled in laughter.

Already there were some Twi'lek running around in a desperate panic. Every second, another fell to a satisfying crackle of electrified bolas, or the pulse of a stun rifle, or the delightful crack of an energy whip being put to use.

"Run! Run all you like! Your days of cowering behind Republic treaties are over!"

By then, Tegama had woken from her early rest, rushed to the nearest curtained window, and nearly fainted in panic. Exactly the reaction she couldn't allow herself to have.

The first thing she did was rush for her holocommunicator. She maybe had seconds at most to call for help before she had to hide, or whomever the strangers were would take her.

In the panicked rush, she nearly knocked it clear out of view, desperately crawling over the table to retrieve it in her shaking hands.

"Papa! Papa! There's people attacking the village! Come back!"

Outside, she could hear a speeder racing up the path towards her house row. With no time left for a response, she shut off the communicator and hurled it out of sight on her way to the kitchen. One of the lower cupboard doors opened into an alcove that was rarely used, as it extended around a corner into an inconveniently accessible area. She had used it as a hiding place often before, but never under a terrifying threat.

With a whimper she crawled inside, feet first to avoid getting trapped in there. To her growing panic, she couldn't hide all of herself in that hidden corner any longer, leaving most of her head exposed if one of the invaders did in fact take the moment to poke his head inside.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me, please don't see me-"

She yelped a little when doors further up the line were busted down. Through the thin cave wall, she could hear them absolutely trashing the place in search of any children in hiding. Her heart stopped when she heard one of the younger girls next door screech in terror when she was found, shortly followed by a terrifying crackle.

" _Good form, Kusrag will be pleased._ "

" _Enough for a bonus?_ "

" _Perhaps if he is in a good mood. Take her to the gather point. Rest of you, next house!_ "

Tegama froze up, trying very hard to hold her breath and avoid being noticed. It wasn't enough to keep her from jumping in fright at the sound of the door being smashed in.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me…"

"The Jedi residence. Find the girl! He didn't take her to Rotua City!"

She could hear clattering and smashing as furniture and other devices were hurled about. The only thing more terrifying than that was the fact that she was already known to them. They were waiting for her father to leave.

Her heart jumped again when a pair of heavy footsteps strode into the kitchen, hurling the table aside and yanking open one door at a time.

In that moment, her eyes closed, voice barely audible even to herself.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me-"

The shock at seeing the cupboard door right in front of her nearly getting pulled off the hinges nearly made her pass out altogether. Her eyes were frozen wide open, only able to stare as the intruder poked his head in.

For a terrifying moment, she could see him clearly. He had taken his helmet off to search inside, revealing a face that looked vaguely like Cathar, but different in many ways. The eyes were round, ears were much larger, and several small spines protruded from the chin.

When their eyes met, she felt a rumble in her ears.

 _Please, Goddess please don't let him see me._

The intruder stared back at her for several seconds, then slowly pulled his head out and stood up. He too had experienced a rumbling just inside his ears.

"I don't see anything in here! She must have fled to another hiding place!"

"Move on then! Kusrag wants us out before the hour is up!"

Tegama did finally faint at that moment, now out of blissful hope that they wouldn't bother to check twice and find her while she was unconscious, and no longer able to pray to the Force for help. She had no other means of protecting herself without weapons after all.

The state of the village itself was far worse. Those Twi'lek with weapons were all but defeated, slugthrowers and the blaster rifles they had previously only ever needed for hunting proving vastly ineffective against the specialized weapons of the slavers. The cries and screams of children as they were hauled off to the transports at the mouth of the cavern were broken only by whip cracks and yells of pain from those suffering under them.

By then, Kusrag had made his way down to the marketplace where those to be selected from had been gathered. Many of the children and teenagers there had bruises or scorch marks from their capture. Each had a shock prod poised right behind their shoulder blade region.

"Mm, you all do me proud. Each of you clearly has a keen eye for identifying top quality specimens. Let's see if the rest of those selected match up or surpass this range when they arrive. I'd very much like to-"

He was cut short by a blaster shot that raced past his arm, striking one of the female slavers in the stomach. A second flew over his left shoulder, grazing off the helmet of another to rebound into a wall. By then, he had lashed his whip out in the direction of the shooter. The hanging end lashed around her neck, and with a yank he brought her screaming out into the open.

"A Lethan girl, trained to shoot a blaster. Fascinating."

He sent a discharge down the whip length, causing Nurrina to stumble to her knees in agony.

"You seem a little young to be using deadly weapons, but we'll train you out of that soon enough." He looked back to the lineup once some more prospects had been set down in front of him. Gesturing to a little over a dozen, he grinned and looked back to the Twi'lek he had bound by the neck. "Congratulations girl. You're a prized specimen that I had hoped to capture for my own collection." He looked up to his lieutenant near the transport. "Take her and those selected to the ship. The rest go to Toka the Hutt!"

Another shot rang out, this time narrowly missing his ear only to smash into the ground. He fired his pistol on a reflex, catching a young man in dark goggles. He fell to the ground behind the overlook, while his slugthrower rifle fell over to smash onto the ground below.

"Forget him! Boys that are old enough to kill are of no use to us! Move!"

Every one of Nurrina's struggles and screams was met with another discharge through the whip until she finally passed out. Kusrag hauled her up over his shoulder at that, keeping his blaster trained on the adults when he passed by them.

"Soon, Ryloth will be a protectorate of our Slave Empire! The Republic has abandoned your world time and time again! And unlike the Sith, unlike the Jedi, we do not use the trickery of the Force to ensure our superiority! That is something we have already earned as birthright!"

A cheer came up from all of the slavers under his command, including those injured in the fight and leaning on their fellows for support.

It was a sight that made Kusrag laugh again. In the space of an hour, they had brought an entire village of Twi'lek to their knees in submission. With ten times the forces, they would control Ryloth within the month.

* * *

Almost exactly four and a half hours later, several dozen Twi'lek mounted on lakra and speeders raced down the wide path to the village gates. At their head was Masadar, who bolted right through as fast as he possibly could.

For once, he was paying no heed to those in pain around him. His focus was solely on the ruined doorway of his home, the terrifying fear of what he might find there.

What he might not find there.

He didn't even bother to tie down his lakra's reins, having very nearly leapt from the saddle as soon as he was close enough to bolt inside the ruined remains of his home.

"Tegama! Tegama!"

Several seconds passed. Silence.

"Tegama!"

In all his years, it had never been more difficult to keep his presence in check. The harrowing feeling of despair at what he was afraid would turn out to be his loss as well would be devastating if projected through others in the village, already struggling to cope with their own losses. The first line of the old Code suddenly felt so painfully relevant, and it was exactly counter to how he had trained himself.

And yet, it was exactly what lodged in his mind when he finally fell to his knees, trying very hard to hold down everything running through his mind to do the one thing he could.

 _Tegama, wherever you are, call to me._

The following seconds were tormenting. So many scared minds around him, all desperate for answers. And he was looking for one voice amongst them all.

"Papa?"

His eyes flicked open. In a rush to the kitchen, he stumbled back to his feet only to kneel back down again to help pull Tegama out from the cupboard in which she had been hiding.

"Oh, my sweetness." He held her in a tight embrace long after she was free, still doing his utmost to remain controlled while she sobbed away into his robes. His duty to the village would only come once the duty to his daughter had been fulfilled. And for the moment, that was doing whatever he could to make her feel safe at last.

* * *

It was over an hour later when Masadar finally emerged, having put Tegama to bed with the assurance of being guarded. That duty he left to both Tilasa and Kadano, who had returned from the training grounds for their sister's birthday. It was hardly the reunion with her that they ever wanted to experience.

Soon enough, he reached the gathering in the main square where the village leader, Unural, and everyone else who could walk had gathered. Many of them were wounded or hurt in some way, and all were deeply troubled by what had transpired. Twi'lek infantry from Rotua City were posted all around to provide what sense of security they could.

Masadar took a breath before addressing the crowd at last. "Before this devolves into a panicked flurry of questions, we need to establish some things. Whomever these invaders are, I don't believe they are planning to leave in a hurry. From what I've learned, they've studied Jedi for some time, and they are probably expecting me to call on backup to take them on directly. By then they will have reinforcements of their own, and will have moved all the children off world. So, I will not be calling upon the Jedi for aid."

The expected response of questions and complaints directed at him rose for a few seconds before he calmed them down again.

"It was miraculous that my own daughter was not taken. But that does not make me any less determined to see all your children returned safely in the slightest. This is beyond barbaric, and whatever the government, the Senate, or the Jedi themselves may think, we have every right to take action in response!"

When the crowd noise rose up again, he looked right to Unural. Unsurprisingly, he gave a nod of approval to continue, choosing to defer to his own authority as a Jedi for the time being. But there was still a great deal of respect that demanded Masadar seek that approval first.

"They will not expect an organized attack so soon! We may not know their exact location, but we do know they must have a usable spaceport outside the authorized network. That will narrow potential locations down significantly. When we do locate their base, I will need no more than fifty volunteers who can wield vibroblades, and if necessary use blasters as a last resort. Stealth will be the key to rescuing our children safely. Everyone else must remain here and defend, the infantry will accompany the rescue group in transports of their own to ensure that the children will make it out at the very least. We must send a message to these invaders! One surprise attack on an undefended village will be their last attack on Ryloth as a whole!"

The murmuring that followed was far from the result he had expected from his best attempt at a rousing speech yet.

He nodded back to Unural, hoping that he would have better luck.

"Do not let the words of that alien bastard dampen your spirits! Whatever the galaxy thinks, we have thrived on a world that is wrought by searing light and freezing darkness! No other world faces such terrifying extremes on a daily basis, and regards it as just another part of normal life! We will not be silenced by these invaders! When we ride to rescue our young, they will long regret ever coming here!"

This time the response from the crowd was more notable, even some of the infantry began to cheer along as Unural continued to rally them.

When it was over, there was an abundance of volunteers. Men and women varying from the young adult to the respected elder. Both Masadar and Unural passed over the teenage boys that had volunteered after some discussion, asking them to defend instead.

By the time they had their fifty, Masadar found himself at the next difficult problem.

"Make no mistake, there will be blood spilled. Unural and myself will ride ahead, as will the strong swordsmen, we take down the sentries we find before they have a chance to raise the alarm through whatever means are necessary. At the base itself, I can only ask that you watch out for each other, and avoid blaster fights. I will not have my lightsaber with me to defend, I cannot risk drawing that much attention to my involvement as a Jedi. I do this as a member of this village instead."

When there was no significant objection, he lowered his head slightly before nodding over to the lakra ranch. "Ensure the beasts know to move quietly. We ride as soon as we know where they are located. Those who cannot ride well travel with the infantry in the transports ten minutes behind and help them with the rescue. In the meantime, I suggest we all dress in dark colours, keep lekku wrapped up. Minimize their visibility."

He glanced over at the walkway from the residential area. Tilasa was making his way over, a holocommunicator in hand.

After a gesture of acknowledgement, he turned back to the gathered volunteers. "May the Force be with us. May it protect us from the evil we ride against, and deliver our children home safe."

"May the Force be with us!"

While the others dispersed, he moved aside to finally speak with his eldest son in relative privacy. From his expression he already had an idea of who was intending to speak with him.

"Mother asked for you. I think she has bad news."

"I doubt it could be worse than this. Keep strong for your sister Tilasa."

He waited until he was some distance away before finally opening up the holocommunicator.

" _Masadar, I know what you're about to do-_ "

"I'm not calling it off. There's no time to wait for the Republic or the Jedi to come to our aid. I have to be there to ensure all those children remain safe, and that someone is left alive to answer for the crimes of these invaders."

" _Masadar listen to me, it is far more complicated than you think. I've spoken with Senator Lotak, she's already moving for sanctions._ "

Masadar sighed, trying very hard to not roll his eyes. His wife had the best intentions, but now was not the time for relying on political machinations.

"That won't do it. As soon as we get a confirmation on where they are based we move out. We both swore an oath to never ignore the plight of the innocent, and this is exactly what we are faced with now."

When he noticed her distress, he sighed a little and lowered the harsh tone his voice had taken on. "Please, come back to the village. Tegama nearly died out of sheer terror, she needs her mother more than ever now." He glanced up at the ruined home, mulling over the matter a bit longer, then back to the hologram. "A girl she's grown very close to was taken as well. If I don't get her back, she may be heartbroken beyond healing for it."

He could feel her rising distress at that moment through the bond they shared alone. Something was keeping her from coming to the village, and not because she was in any danger. And while it bothered him, he didn't have time left to think it over.

" _I can't yet. Just… Please, don't let this become your downfall to the dark side. I can't lose you to it now._ "

Masadar took an affirming breath. "I won't, my love. I know what must be done, and how I must do it. Until this is over, there is no emotion, and no peace. The message will be made in blood, and I will not let it haunt me after. That is the promise I make."

* * *

To their great fortune, the base in question was located towards the night side of the planet, giving them the darker side of the twilight band to ride into. More importantly, the lakra quickly took to moving with barely a sound as they had been trained for when necessary, no longer making their presence known with heavy steps at every turn.

As they approached the leading rampart, Masadar motioned to Unural. Two sentries ahead, either side of the road. He took the right, while Unural took the left.

Both readied their vibroswords. Both could see the sentries begin to raise their weapons when they noticed the approach, only far too late to actually use them.

Two swings, two heads sent hurtling off their respective bodies to bounce along either side of the road.

It was only the first of many that would fall in the coming hours, and both hoped that the number of their fellow villagers that joined that pile would remain at a steady zero.

Another five sentries along the road were felled before they finally came to a stop outside the base itself. High above lay the heavy bulkheads of the launching pad, while a smaller set of thick doors waited for them at the top of the road ahead.

Masadar was first to dismount, motioning to the others as they rode up for silence. They were all dressed in off-black, and everyone had their lekku bound together in a single bundle behind their head. The only parts truly visible in the twilight were the whites of their eyes.

"Keep your weapons ready, don't move ahead until either of us give the all clear. If the shooting starts, don't take any risks. And whatever you do, leave the leader and the Hutt for me to deal with. I won't have anyone else putting themselves in danger like that. Just focus on finding where they're holding the children."

He turned back around to make an observational sweep of the mountainside, looking for both any other sentry positions, and a discreet way in until they were ready to breach the main doors for the escape.

As it turned out, it was a combination of the two that looked most promising. A single guard post just ten metres above and to the left of the main doorway. The sentry there seemed so disinterested in his work that he hadn't even bothered to secure the door behind herself.

"Begin the climb when I deal with the guard and take her card. Unural, take a group and try to find a security room. Unseal the main door, lock down the rest, then put the lights on full strength. We'll see if they're as sensitive to intense light as their heritage suggests."

"Understood."

After taking a breath to steady himself, Masadar closed his eyes, and opened them just in time to make the tense leap for the rock above the main doorway. His fingers found a solid cut in the rock, as did his feet, allowing him to make two more silent leaps until he was directly positioned above the sentry.

At the moment when she leaned forward to yawn, he leapt down right on her, driving his vibroblade right through her neck. The momentary gasp of shock that she made was suppressed by a gripping gesture from himself.

It reminded him rather uncomfortably about his earlier conversation with Tegama about clean kills. There was no joy in it for him in the slightest, but even then…

His moment of distraction was broken by Unural's swift arrival, taking a lower path along the rock face up to the sentry post. Masadar quickly pulled him up to safety, ducking down to whisper right after.

"Don't answer the communicator. We are on a limited timeframe as is. I expect they'll discover other bodies inside before any of the sentries. From here on, we maintain silence."

"Agreed. If I locate the children first, I will ensure that door remains unsealed. Resume contact when the lights come on, we will guide you to their leader."

Fron then on, all Masadar did was nod. He took a few cautious steps inside, watching intently for any patrol or camera. There were signs printed around the place, but they were inscribed in a language he had never seen before. Almost certainly that of the slavers, whom he only had a vague description of.

Once more Twi'lek had made their way inside, he gestured to some to follow him, while others made their way over to Unural in the opposing direction. The transports were positioned almost exactly ten minutes out, and the remaining sentries would not need long to detect their approach when called for. The timing of everything was now entirely on the two of them.

* * *

Kadano had taken position just to the right of the ruined door outside, watching out over the rest of the village as they tried to remain alert. It was growing late into the rest cycle after all, and barely any of them had been given the chance to sleep. The sight of them milling about, trying to begin the massive clean-up job that lay ahead for them while they waited hurt him greatly.

He wanted to help, but he had been given clear instructions to protect his sister. And from the way she had looked in that brief time he had seen her, it was very hard to argue that she didn't need something to calm her down.

"Tega, you need sleep."

"No, no I need to go see…"

He turned his head towards the doorway. Tilasa sounded even more worried than he did, perhaps because he had to keep an eye on Tegama herself. For a moment, he had overheard a chilling thought from their father that Tegama simply might stop breathing during the night as a result of her ordeal. As if he wasn't worried enough.

When Tegama stumbled out through the mess rather unexpectedly, he actually did jump a little, but thankfully neither of them were looking in his direction to notice.

"Tega, you really should be in bed."

Tilasa wasn't far behind, looking to Kadano with a concerned look before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. "Come, she wants to visit the infirmary. I don't think either of us are going to stop her."

And so they walked with her, down the walkways, across the long curve of the marketplace, back up the ramps to the infirmary, and finally into the warm room itself.

Tilasa took the initiative for everything that had to be said, explaining that it was just a visit Tegama needed, and eventually convincing the village's doctor to let them through. So far, only those with serious wounds had been admitted, many of which were burn marks to the neck or face, at least one who had the lashes of a whip across his arms and head, and further up a young man with a blaster wound in his shoulder.

That was who Tegama eventually raced to.

"Kip. Oh Kip, why did they hurt you?"

Kip by then had his arm in a brace to take the weight off his shoulder, a small patch resting over the kolto solution that had been poured into it to aid recovery. His good arm made its way to Tegama's shoulder. His normally squinted eyes from wearing the goggles so often now looked a little wider for all the sedative pumped into him.

"I missed. I can hit schutta from fifty metres, couldn't even score that walking rat in the neck." He gave a weak smile before glancing up at the two Jedi that accompanied her. It didn't take long to see the faint resemblance. "You're the brothers I've heard about?"

Both nodded, Tilasa again taking the lead. "We were planning on waiting for mother to arrive at Rotua City before returning here for the feast. If we had only come with father the first time…"

Tegama looked at them both, a little bleary eyed, then slowly dipped her head back to Kip. "Is Nurrina alright? I didn't see her here."

Kip's smile faded rather quickly, his hand falling away. A glance to Tilasa was all he needed to warn him that it was news that required more support.

"The tal'kankora took her. Said he wanted her specifically, for her red skin. Tega I'm sorry, I couldn't save her."

All she did was take a long, trembling breath, shuddering a little at Tilasa's hands moving to her shoulders, and nod slowly.

"Pa will save her. He'll save them all."

"I hope so Tega."

She took another breath, sniffling a little. There were probably only seconds before she broke down again, so she made sure Tilasa knew to help walk her out in time. Nurrina had always helped her feel more mature, and being mature meant knowing that she couldn't break down in tears in front of so many others who were already in distress.

* * *

The cameras were easy enough to bypass. With a degree of concentration, he could distort his appearance on all levels of detection for a few seconds, more than enough time to slip from one hiding spot to the next. Unless the guards were actively watching that specific camera feed, they would barely even notice a glimmer on any wavelength.

The lessons he had received from Juhani in exchange for teaching her his meditative techniques had proved invaluable once again.

His brief optimism was typically cut short when he finally came across more slavers. They were moving in a group of four, and while their discussion suggested they were not yet at alert status, it did indicate they were anticipating an attack more than he had expected them to. Whomever commanded them wasn't entirely soaked in his own egotistical view of them.

Once they passed he moved on again. There were yet more signs he couldn't decipher, and what he wouldn't give for a translator pad at that moment. Assuming they were actually calibrated for the language.

When he reached the next corridor, he peeked around momentarily, then rolled his eyes. Somehow, he had found what looked to be the security room, the doors of which remained suspiciously open.

With so many other Twi'lek waiting just out of view of the first camera he had encountered, raising the risk of being spotted there, he absolutely had to take over Unural's role.

After a silent breath, he made his dash. Three quick swipes felled the trio inside the room, leaving a splatter of blood across many of the computer screens. The first thing he did was close the door to that room so that he could finally have a moment's time to think.

"What I wouldn't give to have trained in slicing."

He looked around the room, and upon spotting a nearby locker quickly rifled through it for a surprisingly nice supply of computer spikes.

"And now to see if they were stupid enough to leave their own encryptions on these."

There was a bit of a smile after plugging the first in, and finding that his theory was indeed correct. Within minutes, and after a handful of spikes later, he had full access to the whole security system.

First off went the cameras in succession, only where absolutely necessary to avoid the chance that any idle slaver would notice the failure and report in. The path of disabled cameras led his group right to the security door that he opened promptly.

"Search for the children, then begin the lockdown and bring on the lights. Unural will know it's a change of plan and contact you. I'm going to defend the corridor as best I can, this will be their first target."

He moved back out into the cross section corridor, taking cover behind a pillar to extend how long he could conceal his head from view while looking out.

In his mind, he began a countdown when word was put through to Unural, listening to the readout of the base layout. At least a minute to get there from current position, six to go from there to the main doorway.

The sword he moved to one hand so that he could reach up to his earpiece with the other.

"Bring in the transports now. It's about to blow."

The countdown he began to whisper verbally, using his now free hand to draw a blaster pistol while the sword clipped onto his belt. A patrol was beginning to approach their position.

In the moments before the lights came on, he took one long breath, letting his mind draw out the moment to plan his move. Just as had happened on Korriban all those years ago. There were three slavers approaching. Three clean shots across the hall for the weak spots. His use of a blaster was limited, but for the moment at hand it would suffice.

He twisted on his foot to turn out into the hall, firing the first shot as soon as he had sight. The lights blared into full brightness, just after which he fired the second. By the time of the third, the first mark had landed right in the neckline, causing the target to collapse dead.

The moment ended, three more clean kills to him, three more burdens weighing down on the conscience he had pushed to the back of his mind. They were not being made to suffer in the slightest. There was no joy, no remorse.

"Move move!"

An alarm began to ring out through the base. He raced back to the security room, taking a proper look at the base layout at last. The hangar was accessible by a notably large lift, presumably to accommodate Toka the Hutt himself. The barracks were in lockdown, minutes away from being breached by those inside.

By the time the Twi'lek had dispersed to defensive positions around the security room, he located his mark.

Again, he reached to his earpiece to inform Unural. "I've found the bastard's office, and what may be Toka the Hutt's meeting hall. If he isn't there, he will be in the hangar trying to make an escape."

" _The Hutt is second priority, here only for business. Kusrag is the man we should focus on taking down._ "

"Agreed. Stay safe my friend, the transports will be ready for you and the children outside."

A firefight had broken out by then. In his rush to reach Kusrag's office, he did his best to support the other Twi'lek where possible, using his concentration alone to deflect blaster bolts back, flanking any isolated slavers he could find, and purposefully sabotaging what equipment he came across along the way to slow down their progress.

Something that became more and more obvious was the refurbishment of the base. They were new occupants of an old staging ground, which meant they weren't nearly as entrenched as he feared. The idea of driving them off Ryloth altogether seemed more and more likely.

When he forced his way through the door at last, he expected to be met by several guards and Kusrag himself with a weapon drawn.

Instead, he found the man standing in front of his desk, a drink swirling in hand. The helmet was laid off to one side, leaving his face fully visible in the brightened light.

"It took longer than I expected for you to reach me. Close the door, why don't you, so there are no interruptions in what I have to say."

Masadar held his sword high, blade folded back along his arm in a defensive posture, eyes glaring just above. He made no move to close the door.

"Suit yourself." Kusrag half turned to press a button on the table. The alarm stopped, only to be replaced by music that he himself scoffed at. "A little, shall we say, cliche? I personally enjoy other forms of music believe it or not, but opera is so deliciously appropriate for this conversation."

Patience began to wear thin for Masadar as he stepped closer, trying very hard to block out the music on the likely possibility it contained subverted notes intended to disrupt his concentration. To that end, he uncovered his nose and mouth to breathe easier at last.

"Who are you? And why invade my world, my village? Why take my people!?"

Kusrag grinned at that moment, taking a small sip from his glass before setting it aside. "So aggressive for a Jedi. And yet, you are doing a remarkable job of projecting this sense of calm onto yourself, I can feel it affecting myself even if you do not. The reports on you are very accurate."

He kept both hands visible to demonstrate he was definitely unarmed. "My people come from a world called-" And his grin grew into a devious smirk at that moment. "Zygerria."

Masadar's arm lowered, exposing his growing look of shock.

"You've heard of us then, yes? This is Zygerrian opera we are listening to right now, the artwork you see is Zygerrian, and even this delectable vintage is Zygerrian. Believe what you will about our empire being built on the back of slaves, we are very much a race of culture. Free from the interference, galactization and commercialization of the Republic, and the corruption, distrust and self-destruction of the Sith Empire. Even the Hutts have yet to even think about rivalling our taste in the finer things."

The blade came back up, this time in an aggressive stance. Masadar was trying very hard to not let his utter disgust at Kusrag's indifference get the better of him.

"But no, you do not care about such things. And I do not mean as a member of the Twi'lek race, one we have long heard practically begs to be enslaved because they cannot manage themselves properly. You ignore all this because you are Jedi, trained to think of yourselves as above all the worldly pleasures and delights. That didn't stop you and your fellows from indulging in sexual gratification based on how many children we hear the Jedi have these days, but that is not something the Zygerrian people would ever judge others for."

"Enough! I don't care about you or your decadent people! I came for the children you stole from my village. All of them!"

Kusrag smirked again, his gaze moving to the floor while he began to move away from the desk. "Then, as expected, you have arrived too late. My ship has already departed with those selected for the Zygerrian King, as well as my own commission. He is very much interested in studying the potential for exploitation of all the benefits your people have to offer when trained by far better slavers than whatever skug the Hutts have hired for that until this time."

Masadar took a threatening step forward, activating the blade of his weapon to produce that threatening hum. "Call it back, now."

"Or what, you'll gut me? I am unarmed, and Jedi do not kill unarmed people. Besides, surely you wish to let me monologue more, give your own people more time to rescue the children I knew Toka could not hold onto anyway?"

For a moment, Masadar actually faltered. But just for a moment. He knew from conversations with what he long knew as Suroni that manipulation was easy to identify. "I don't have to kill you to make you co-operate, schutta. I won't play your word games. And I will not make deals with slavers!"

"And yet, your village signed a treaty that otherwise protected it from slaving activities by the Hutts, ratified by your own Republic? You have already made deals with slavers to guarantee the safety of your family. Unfortunately for you, seeing as the Republic is so disinterested in enforcing those treaties on other races, I have successfully walked away with over a dozen Twi'lek while Toka will spend his life in prison. And there you have the true purpose of this exercise."

The sound of blaster fire became an ironically welcome distraction for Masadar. He was desperately trying not to let anything Kusrag said get under his skin. A single mistake was all it would take to begin his descent down a path that could ruin everything he had set out to accomplish.

"I'll let you ponder that realization while giving you a little history lesson on my people. It is only fair that the Jedi gain a better understanding of our race since we have learned so much of them."

He retrieved his glass to take another sip, gasping after in a particularly smug manner. "Our world was once stricken by poverty, famine and a lack of progress. Then, a being from the heavens landed on our world, and when brought to the king of that time spoke of a great slave empire, spanning the galaxy. I believe you may know if it as the Infinite Empire, for I believe the word in Basic for that being is 'Rakata'."

It took all the strength Masadar had to not drop his sword at that moment. A previously unknown power in the galaxy, built on knowledge gained from the Infinite Empire, from an actual Rakata of that time?

"You certainly have heard of them then. Since his arrival, our people went from impoverishment to a new golden age of progress. Gone were the lazy, the unwilling. Criminals were put to work. The common man became a productive man. The mentally and physically ill were no longer forced to scrape what they could, now provided and cared for properly once their families were taught to be more effective. Those with the means but not the will provided for those without the means or the will. And those with the will but not the means drove them on. A perfect harmony that turned a dying world into the throne of a new empire. And all thanks to one alien, fleeing from the downfall of his own, teaching us to rely on the strength of people, not the mystical powers surrounding us."

It was too much for Masadar. It was such a cruel perversion of justification. Every word was twisted around to make the whole abhorrent mess sound perfectly logical. He simply didn't have a mind that could truly pull out all the faults and defeat Kusrag on an intellectual level.

"I told you, I don't care! Thousands of years of culture and progress means nothing when built on the backs of slaves that will never get recognition for their accomplishment! Not that of those who drove them to their deaths!"

"Who says we disregard their contribution? To be part of something greater, something that stands the test of time, surely that is worth a hard life that would otherwise be spent in squalor, in mediocrity, in being wasted away from a lack of purpose in life?"

For the first time in his life, Masadar tasted the bitterness of anger. His hand lashed out, gesturing a hold right around Kusrag's throat.

Kusrag himself erupted in laughter.

"All it took to break a Jedi's code was to pose a legitimate question he did not want to answer?" From inside his sleeve he drew his disruptor, posing it directly at Masadar's head. "I'm surprised you didn't sense it sooner. This inhibiting resin that has become so widely available in the galaxy is a truly remarkable creation. It can even be whittled down to threads, woven into cloth and armor alike. But then, you've chosen to kill the men and women under my command with a sword instead of a thought. A bloodstained sword, no less."

He fired the disruptor.

In a cold moment, Masadar's hand went up to deflect the bolt away. Rather than directing it back at Kusrag, he brought his sword hand up, tossed it in the air ever so slightly to change his grip, and once back in hand, hurled it right at the Zygerrian's shoulder.

The vibrating blade drove right through the cloth, armor, flesh and then the wall behind him as he was forced back by the impact, pinning him to the wall with a roar of pain.

Masadar was up there in an instant, driving the blade deeper, and lowering the vibration frequency while he did so to make the high hum into a tormenting throb against the newly opened wound.

"Last warning! Recall the ship, or you'll be 'unarmed' permanently!"

Kusrag spat in his face at that, following it up with a pained laugh. "Oh come now! That was just as painful as the blade in my shoulder, if not moreso!"

Masadar decreased the vibration further. It began to visibly shake inside the wound, letting blood splatter to either side. The cry of pain from Kusrag made him turn it back up eventually.

"You will never see those children again, I swear on my life. Every time I look at the Lethan girl that shot one of my women, I will laugh and think of you. Of how much she means to your daughter!"

With a cry of his own, Masadar drove the sword in right to the hilt. His face was now completely overwhelmed by rage, while his mind struggled desperately to reassert control over his emotions before every Twi'lek and Zygerrian in the base devolved into a bloodlust as fierce as his own.

"You show your true colours, Masadar'Arani! For that, I will give you a gift!"

"Masadar! Stop!"

He could hear Unural's voice, but for the moment he was no longer willing to turn.

"Speak!"

Kusrag's grin began to stain with blood from the continued vibrations. "The Sith are returning. A woman came before the King, proposing an alliance that he refused. She called herself Darth Lasidia!"

In that moment, all the rage died away. Masadar slowly pulled the sword out of the wall, and his shoulder, letting it clatter to the floor in a bloody mess.

"That's… That's not possible. Meetra Surik broke the line of Dark Lords when she destroyed the Triumvirate. This Lasidia is a pretender!"

Even beginning to grow weak from ensuing blood loss, Kusrag managed another hearty laugh. "I have studied the ways of the Sith. She is no pretender. The line has been restored; she is as Sith as Darth Traya, as Darth Malak, as Exar Kun, and as Freedon Nadd. That is my gift to you, Masadar'Arani. The knowledge that you will soon fall to them. Innocent blood is on your hands now, whether you choose to believe it or not. And it will stain your light soul forever!"

Before he could ramble any longer, two particularly strong Twi'lek strode over and pulled him back onto his feet. A third began to attend to the wound, solely to stop him from dying before they could bring him to trial.

"When he is fit to march, put him in the collar-pole as well. They will all walk to Rotua City."

Unural waited until the other Twi'lek had escorted him out before finally looking to Masadar. The sight of blood splattered over his face, the empty look in his eyes, and his paled skin were all frightful to see.

"Where's the Hutt? I will take him down and be done with this… fucked up mess."

"Still holed up in the meeting hall. We have it guarded. If he's in there, he isn't getting to his ship now."

Masadar left the sword behind on his way out. His mind was starting to twist around on itself, struggling to cope with what he believed about himself, and the creeping fear of what he had truly become. The walk to the hall stretched on forever, so long was his internal cycle of self doubt and self assurance.

When he finally walked through the doors, motioning to the others to close them behind him, he came back to reality only to have it utterly devastated yet again.

There was absolutely a Hutt at the other end of the hall. To either side stood two Twi'lek, both looking quite distressed.

The last two Twi'lek in the galaxy he ever expected to see there.

"Rilana? Yuthura?"

"Please, approach Masadar. It pains me deeply that you must learn what they have, but it will make things much clearer."

Masadar did approach, though it was in great confusion. The Hutt himself had actually spoken Basic, to a Twi'lek no less, something he had never expected to see in his entire life.

"I'm here to arrest Toka. Are you-"

"Toka is already detained on his ship under Hutt authority. He violated the treaty that the Hutt Cartel established with the Republic over Ryloth, and he will be dealt with accordingly." The Hutt looked to a nearby chronometer. "Any moment now."

Above, higher up in the mountain, there came the deep rumble of an explosion. A few flecks of dust drifted down onto Masadar's head. He used that opportunity to wipe the blood off his face before finally pulling the mask off altogether. His lekku dangled down over both his shoulders at long last, rather than down his spine.

"Before you ask, I am only a member of the Cartel in a strictly political manner. I disagree with their excessive exploitation of your people, and races across the galaxy. But in order to ensure that the rigorous, and fairer laws are enforced, I have to maintain an active membership and strong authoritative presence amongst them."

Masadar looked to his wife, who glanced away from his gaze. "Who are you then? And how the hell did you get here so soon?"

The Hutt cleared his throat at that, pulling up a nearby cloth to clean his lips. "Forgive my overeagerness to explain things. I am Smirged, of masculine preference if that is of assistance in referring to me. But I do not take offence to any alternatives of your choosing." He cleared his throat a bit more once the introductions were done. "We became aware of Toka's intentions to violate the treaty for his own illegal profits several days ago, but it was not until I came here just hours earlier that we discovered he had formed an alliance with the Zygerrians."

Masadar reached up to his forehead to try and ease the growing confusion, unknowingly smearing more blood over his skin. "Then why let Kusrag leave with many of our children? Why not make it clear that you were going to intervene.

"I tried to warn you, Masadar. You wouldn't listen."

He looked to Rilana again. Their earlier conversation suddenly became even more disturbing. She had been there the whole time. All those Zygerrians he had killed…

"It pains me again to say that his ship took them away before any of us arrived here. I believe he had it waiting nearby for a fast extraction, that he may have believed Toka would try to siphon off the Twi'lek he had captured, if you'll forgive the crude manner of expressing things. Our intention was to hold him here until the Zygerrian King issued a rescinding order, and we could free the children safely. But given what has happened, and the most recent transmissions from Zygerria, it seems he would never have let them go. Brute force might very well be the only way to make him release their destination to us."

It seemed to be a night of firsts, as Masadar now found himself hoping for all that was good that the words of a Hutt were in fact correct. That he hadn't just imagined that was what had been said to ease his wailing conscience.

He needed yet another distraction as always, and that turned his attention to Yuthura.

"And why are you here? All those stories you told me, about the hellish life on Sleheyron under Omeesh? Why work with a Hutt now of all times?"

Yuthura remained steady in her gaze, though she did have to briefly chew on her lip to maintain that level of composure. "Omeesh was greedy, and cruel, the sort of Hutt that Smirged seeks to overthrow. He told us both the truth about Ryloth, the Hutt's involvement here. And we both agreed to co-operate for the sake of our people. This may not be my homeworld, but it is yours, and that of your family. I could not possibly put them in danger because of my own bitter past."

"Danger? What are you talking about."

He looked back to Smirged at last when he cleared his throat yet again. There was genuine sorrow in his eyes.

"I was among the first of those who made contact with Ryloth. I was intrigued by the unique nature of your world, the way your people thrived in the band between the two extremes. I and others commissioned a scientific study of Ryloth, and reached a terrifying conclusion.

By that time, severe geological damage had been done underneath the crust of the bright side of this world. Damage that threatened to cascade into total annihilation of Ryloth's entire surface if allowed to continue. But to correct the lack of rotational force of an entire world would take centuries, at least, and the bright side had to be stabilized in the meantime. Such an endeavour had astronomical costs, and with the Republic unable to fund such a project, ryll mines proving to be vastly ineffective at feeding that cost, and a sheer lack of land making any kind of farming or industrial produce grossly inadequate, it was decided that there was only one other exploitable resource Ryloth had to offer to pay for its own salvation."

Masadar's whole body began to tremble. Even his normally firm jaw went slack. He was already beginning to picture all the pieces finally falling into place. The horrifying truth of his homeworld.

"The people. Am I really supposed to believe that all the credits raised from that degrading trade is fuelling this supposed restoration effort? Why is this not common knowledge?"

"It is an unfortunate reality that many individuals of a race can become selfish. The Twi'lek settlements across the galaxy may sustain this world's inadequacies, but they cannot possibly withstand a mass evacuation of the world, for the simple reason of holding onto their own ideal societies. And even then, many Hutts and others in the trade have become greedy in their wealth. Any attempt to dislodge them would result in catastrophic consequences for your entire race. Just as with the gradual establishment of Ryloth's rotational cycle, it is a well entrenched problem that must be resolved over the passing of time. The slavery will not end in even my lifetime, but it will end eventually, and Ryloth will walk free. Until then, the secret must be kept, or else panic and chaos will quite literally tear this world apart, and devastate the galaxy as a whole for its effects."

As if he hadn't put himself through enough, now being burdened with an awful truth about his people too. All Masadar could do was wander off to the nearest wall, and rest his forehead against the cold surface, leaving a trace of dried blood on it as well.

"This is a joke… It's all a joke…"

"Masadar, please, understand-"

The whole hall shook from a tremendous slam. Masadar's fist was at the centre of the impact, pounded against the wall in a small crater that sent cracks snaking all through the walls. It was just barely enough to keep him from breaking down altogether.

The shock of it caused Rilana to begin crying. Feeling such a sudden reaction, both in physical presence and through their bond. She slipped into a comforting hold from Yuthura, who slowly began to walk her out of the room at last.

Both looked to Masadar, who was still glaring at the wall in shame.

"I am truly sorry to you all. To this day, my scientists and engineers continue to study and innovate new processes to further help Ryloth, and I will continue to advocate for legitimate, humane business throughout the Hutt Empire. And if at all possible, I will work towards bringing those children home from Zygerrian space. Someday."

* * *

The hours following went by in a myriad of whispers for him. He had to explain to Unural that Toka was indeed killed in the explosion above, that Smirged had arrived to enforce the Hutt's end of the treaty, and that Rilana and Yuthura were there as negotiators.

Not a word was breathed about what he had heard in there, and no-one had been listening in.

Every one of the children intended for Toka returned safely. There was many a happy face when the transports landed outside, and parents in tears rushed to retrieve their children.

He was left with the horrible responsibility of going to those who stood away. Those who had come to the realization that they were not going to see their little ones ever again.

It was the first time he met Nurrina's parents properly, and almost certainly the last. It pained him more to realize Tegama was watching them as he did his best to explain with what few words he could find. As their hope died out like a flickering flame, so did hers.

True to their word, the Twi'lek soon passed by, Zygerrians in collars on the end of long poles marching beside those mounted on lakra, hands bound in shock cuffs, all forced to march.

Even in defeat, Kusrag found time to revel in the despair that those few Twi'lek were left with. He had proven that the Zygerrians could go where they want, take who they wanted, and hold onto them as long as they liked. The consequences left to the individual mattered little, when the resounding effect of supreme terror it painted of his people was able to hit well and truly home.

* * *

Visas, Sereti and a few others were in the Council chamber at Masadar's return. His usually warm presence was now gone. Instead, he perpetuated a feeling of emptiness, one that matched the look on his face to an exacting degree.

She didn't think twice about motioning for the others to give her some space to talk with Masadar, and to her relief he shared that same sentiment.

"I'm afraid I have bad news."

"I'm hardly surprised."

Visas waited until they were a decent distance away before continuing. "As soon as we heard, I went right to the Chancellor's office. 558 Jedi were ready and willing to go to Zygerria and put a stop to them before they had a chance to scatter those Twi'lek children."

Masadar didn't need long at all to conclude the bad news for himself. "She refused to allow it."

"She won't allow us to begin a war on Zygerria without provocation from them, no. As far as she is concerned, their refusal for diplomacy or extradition of the children is not grounds for Jedi involvement. I am truly sorry Masadar."

"At this point, I am hardly surprised. Republic politics seem to come before basic sapient rights in this galaxy." When the mood turned sour, he sighed and put his mind back on the other pressing issue at hand. "I did inform you of a warning Kusrag gave me before his capture, right?"

Visas nodded slowly at that.

"He claims that Zygerria was visited by a Sith Lord named Lasidia, only stating that it was a woman, that she had a true claim to the title of Darth, and that the Sith under her command were in fact organized. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't divulged anything else, such as what species this woman is, their estimated numbers, or what they could have possibly hoped to have gained out of an alliance with the Zygerrians."

"And he's still on Ryloth I assume? I can certainly understand your government not wanting to release him to Jedi custody anytime soon, so we will have to travel there ourselves and interrogate him further. After what he did, I don't think anyone will have qualms about the matter."

Masadar made himself sigh again, solely to make himself feel morally sane again. "We can't stoop to his level, not after what I did. At this point, we really should set the better example for the galaxy, and any kind of invasive interrogation will not help matters. There must be better ways of learning about what to expect of the return of the Sith."

"Perhaps, but even so-"

Her holocommunicator signalled up, and after a nod to Masadar she pulled it up for activation.

" _Grand Master, we've just received a message from Ryloth. The Zygerrian prisoner has just died._ "

Down came the facade of empty calm, Masadar snatching the communicator and staring directly at the communication officer's projection.

"Died? How the hell could they possibly let that happen?"

" _Forgive me, Master Arani, but I was about to explain. They located a device implanted in the spinal region, designed to deliver a fatal charge when his body was struck by a Republic frequency stun blast. He attempted an escape when they fired, they are assuming that he deliberately activated it to avoid interrogation._ "

He looked to Visas, and slowly returned the communicator, his hand quaking yet again.

Before more could be said, she was right on the upkeep. "He's still dressed, thank you for informing us." Once the communicator was closed, she put it back in place and turned to Masadar. It was impossible to tell just how deep his disturbance went, but whatever the case, she knew it was something he would have to overcome alone.

"The solarium is there, Masadar. Please, use it, before you destroy yourself or those around you. Please."

He nodded slowly, took a step back, began to turn with a bit of a swallow, then stepped away properly.

At the doorway, he stopped again, scoffing a little to himself.

"If they had taken Tegama, taken my sweetness… I might have had to go there and save them from her, not the other way around. She was able to use a mind trick without realizing it. Her powers are resurfacing. We might have to act before her sixteenth birthday."

"We will deal with that problem if she manifests. I give you my word that I and the others have your daughter's best interests first. She is a young girl first, not a weapon against the Sith, whatever Dana Lauran might have told you in her past life."

Masadar didn't say anything more. Not there, not even on his way down through the temple, or even to the guards outside the solarium itself.

Unlike the typical definition, it was a large room, lined with panels of inhibiting resin that also filled every wall. When the door closed, it formed a room in which the Force was non-existent. Nothing that happened in there could possibly escape out, at least nothing within the power that any single Jedi could wield.

It was in there that he finally let his emotional state loose. All of the turbulence of the past week bottled up until that moment. Every flitter of loss, every burst of rage, and the torrent of despair he wracked himself with.

For too long, he had been constantly worrying about how his presence affected others, and always having to put their needs above his. For the first time, he could finally let it all out without consequence.

It still terrified him to imagine what would happen if Tegama went through a similar experience, forced to unleash it all without control.

What would happen if the Lady of Sorrows broke free from the bonds holding her inside his beloved daughter.


	7. Lasidia - In the Valley of Madness

Never had there been a more tense moment than when they had to fly around the Republic patrols orbiting Korriban. Being shot down without a pause for questions would still be greatly desirable to being disabled and captured by those patrols, and quickly handed over to the Jedi.

For her pilot, a young man named Kokyak, it probably meant a few years suspended prison sentence for violating a sanctioned blockade of an otherwise desolate world, after thorough interrogation by the Jedi over why he was so willing to transport another Togruta to the surface.

For Mikan herself, it almost certainly meant never setting foot on real ground again, let alone seeing any kind of natural sunlight. And that was assuming the tribe elders did not in fact decide to break their silence in regards to her banishment. If they did, then the result for her would be a long road of suffering to the bitter end.

"Don't hold your breath just yet. It'll take a while to drift past the next sensor sweep so we can land."

"Yes, I was paying attention beforehand."

Kokyak only made a very slight glance over at Mikan. Her voice sounded even more devoid of emotion now that they were in orbit of Korriban. Not even a hint of the perpetual anger she had shown in the months since they had met was coming through. That, and the way she had begun to stroke around the stump of her long gone lekku left him too scared to ask how she was feeling in any way.

After nearly two hours in low power mode, and a tense near-miss with the cruiser in the patrol, they finally began the careful descent towards the surface.

Mikan remained very silent, her eyes wide and fixated on their destination some distance ahead. When they landed, she remained there for some time in further silence.

Staring out across the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Her eventual break from the stare made Kokyak jump ever so slightly in surprise. She looked at him with a blank expression, reaching out to hold his shoulder. "I may be gone some time. Please, find a safe spot to relocate, there are many vicious beasts here if the legends hold true, and the Mandalorians have yet to come here to hunt."

Kokyak was prepared for her to say something like that, reaching over slightly to retrieve a heavy caliber slugthrower for her. "I know you tribals don't use these, but for once-"

"I will not need it. Through the power of the Force I will make them submit to me. Or die from failure. Either way, I will know then if this path is correct."

After a tense sigh, Kokyak rested the slugthrower on his own lap, hoping to not have to use it himself for that would mean he had in fact not made a good relocation. It was all he could allow himself to think about. Questioning whether dying was worth it for Mikan was equivalent to asking if her skin were red. Whatever madness had overcome her mind, he was in no position to try and purge it through words alone.

"Hunt well then, Sol. I will be waiting."

Mikan gave a small nod before rising from her seat and making her way to the rear compartment. There, she undid the plain black robes she had been wearing for the journey, leaving her in skins that she had crafted from some of her finer hunts so long ago. Compared to the pasty yellow mesas of her homeland, Korriban's rich red surface suited her new complexion perfectly. And she intended to make as much use of that fact as possible.

From an upright clasp she retrieved her spear and hunting knife, more recently fashioned as her originals had been destroyed as part of her exile. With the knife secured against her leg, she opened the hatch with her spear at the ready, and made the small jump from cold metal to bleak dust.

At the moment her feet landed, she gained a strong impression of the land around her. It truly was as desolate as it appeared, ruined by centuries of war, the latest of which was only a decade old, and from what she knew had been between the Sith themselves.

She waited there for some time, bracing herself against the dust storm conjured up by Kokyak's departure for a better location. Even after it settled down again, replaced by the natural windscapes of the planet itself she remained longer. Their arrival had not gone unnoticed, and it was not Jedi that had sensed their arrival.

Hunger, hunger was prevalent. Bitter hunger, animalistic. The Sith beasts she had spoken of were already beginning to move, scenting fresh blood.

She raised her head at last, parting her lips enough to hiss back at the air in a threatening way, daring the approaching creatures to attack. They were miniscule compared to other creatures she had felled in her time with her bare hands and teeth alone.

Through the ground, she sensed one among them take the lead. An alpha, and after smelling the downwind air itself, a female. Were it possible to smirk, she might just have at how fitting it was.

She remained there in a half kneel to ensure she could track the matriarch's movement accurately. For some reason, it was moving towards her in a straight line while all the others of her kind were beginning to circle around in a much more strategic move. They clearly had a level of intelligence, and it perplexed her as to why the alpha would simply charge right at her.

When it drew within metres of her position, she came to the realization at last. There was no doubt of exactly where it was at that distance, and yet her eyes could not sight it out. It was only after a few seconds of careful gazing that she made out a shimmering form through the dust itself. A beast that could tap into the Force enough to bend light around itself, and presumably use other means of remaining hidden from those who did not have an incredibly acute talent for sensing beasts of any kind.

As soon as it dropped its natural cloaking, she dashed out of the path of its charge, spraying more dust into the air while her foot twisted around to find a solid grip in her new position. The hssiss matriarch was quick to recover from its missed charge, skittering around to face the Togruta again and deliver an appropriate hiss that stank of rotted flesh and carried the bitter cold of dark influences.

Mikan hissed back through her own jagged teeth, lowering her spear into a threatening position. She had no intention of killing it just yet, but the same was clearly not demonstrated in reverse.

The hssiss charged again. This time, Mikan drove her spear into the ground and used it to twist around the body of the great lizard until she was able to grab onto its back. She went right for a bite to the neck to gauge where its airways were located, only to be greeted by a secondary layer of sharp spines that deflected away any attempt to bite past the leather hide.

At that point she was given example of the true might they had to offer, the hssiss whipping its thick tail around and sending her sprawling back to the dust from the sheer force of the impact it had mustered over its own back.

She was back on her hands and feet quickly, gesturing to her spear that leapt from the ground into her palm with a smooth clap. That made the matriarch pause and look at her again with an examining eye, flicking out that black tongue dripping with toxins.

"Yes, I'm not just a hunter. Soon I will be Sith, and you all will serve me well."

This time when the charge came, she met it with a defensive block from her spear. The shaft groaned as it shoved right through into the matriarch's jaw but did hold out against the impact. Her left hand maintained a solid grip on one end, while her right elbow brought up the other, leaving that hand free to twist around and grasp at the lizard's head while her feet dug down into the dust for enforced support.

They struggled for a few seconds on strength alone, then it began to shift towards a battle of wills.

Having survived many years on the surface, including the attacks of Sith and Jedi alike, the matriarch held enough intelligence to know pride in her strength, and sense the state of her opponent. Cold, bitter, harboring anger and hatred that went unrivalled from all she had slain and consumed.

Mikan found herself against a hunter that seemed to rival her own record of kills, further cementing the idea in her mind that it truly was a test meant for her alone. The beast had achieved many things through use of the Force in ways only it could comprehend, and while impressive, it also provided a vulnerability that she was ready to exploit.

Through that very connection, she burrowed right into the consciousness of the matriarch and subdued the aggression towards her alone.

The struggle ended at last, Mikan retrieving her spear from the maw of the hssis while it backed down onto all four feet again, shaking its head a few times in an attempt to cleanse itself of the intrusion before hissing at her again.

Her chest was rising heavily from the exertion put towards the physical component of the struggle, but she maintained a firm posture to ensure she remained in control. Her hand stretched out at last when she felt the dominance set in. "You will bow, beast."

After another hiss, the matriarch slowly lowered her head to the ground, and soon the front legs buckled at last.

Mikan lowered her hand at last with a satisfied sigh. Through the ground she sensed the rest of the hssiss approaching. They were moving slowly, properly utilizing their stealth, but she could tell by their movements they were not intent on attacking. They were curious, probably curious as to whether she could truly hold onto the control established over their matriarch. She had to remain convinced of that so long as she was in their presence.

With a customary yell of victory, she slammed the end of her spear onto the ground three times before holding it up with both hands. "I have beaten the first test! Speak to me! Guide me to the next!"

At that moment, the dust winds stopped altogether, fully unveiling the sight of the Valley to her. Four ruined tomb entrances, crumbling pillars lining a path up to the long since abandoned colony of Dreshdae. It was from that direction the voice spoke at last.

" _Enter the cave, Togruta. The beasts will wait outside. Do not disappoint them, do not disappoint me._ "

After lowering her spear, and glaring at the matriarch until she moved away, Mikan began the ascent up the Valley to the rocky pass where she assumed the cave was located. It bothered her slightly that it had come from a place other than any one of the four Tombs. Ruined or not, they still held great power, and clearly at least some of their occupants still had ties to their resting places.

As expected, the hssiss followed her all the way to the pass, most stopping outside to allow a few beyond into the ruined path, including the matriarch herself.

When Mikan reached the cave in question, she took another deep breath and looked at the hssiss.

" _Retrieve the venom she provides, Togruta. You will need to overcome and control its effects as you did with the matriarch herself._ "

The matriarch spat a large glob of venom onto the dirt, which Mikan retrieved with a few small gestures, and eventually placed in the tube she had been prompted to bring by the presence calling to her.

" _Enter the cave. Shyrack will impede your journey, they cannot be dominated. Slay them, and retrieve the sharpest tooth you find._ "

"And then what? Fight a tuk'ata to skin and wear as a cloak?"

A cold wind blew out from the cave, causing even the hssiss to back away slightly.

" _Do not jest, Togruta. You will do as I instruct, and ask questions only when I deem it appropriate._ "

After another breath she stepped through the threshold of the cave, slowly drawing her long knife out from the sheath wrapped around her thigh and holding it at the ready. Her spear remained parallel to the ground to avoid catching on the ceiling, or anything growing on the ceiling.

It wasn't long before she encountered a swarm of shyrack, easily dispatched with her knife that tore through their wings and forced them to the ground where she finished them off with the spear. As the trail of bodies grew, she had collected more and more teeth that looked sharp enough, following wherever the presence seemed to be guiding her.

More than once, she had stopped and turned around on the sensation that she was not alone. The most she had seen was glimmers of others. Some hooded in dark robes, others wearing the attire of a Jedi.

She eventually reached an area where the caves billowed out into a large cavern, with a crevasse running through the middle of it. There, to the far left, she definitely saw the personage of a Jedi woman that vanished into the entryway beyond.

" _You see a shadow of the past, Togruta. She was a curiosity I allowed into the tomb, despite her adherence to the Jedi ways. In my eyes, she was doing a great service in cleansing the galaxy of the corrupted Sith ways. She even purged the Sith from Dromund Kaas, hoping to hide away until they could rise unchallenged. The succession of corrupt Dark Lords has been broken at last. For that, she will always hold my respect._ "

Mikan nodded slowly, beginning to understand more of what was going on, who was drawing her there.

"You are Ludo Kressh. The once-forgotten Dark Lord of the Sith. And that would be the shade of the Exile."

" _Mm, you have truly done your research then. This is most pleasing to know, driven by intellect over greed, over petty desire. Perhaps your solemn insolence is not as prevalent as I assumed._ "

Another cold wind blew around Mikan. This time she could definitely tell it had come from the tomb entrance.

" _Inside, you must locate a small droid before you proceed forward. It will be no larger than your fist. Activate it, let it select a tooth, and hand over the venom. You may proceed once this is done._ "

With another nod of acknowledgement, she sheathed her knife and re-gripped her spear before making her way to the bridge. A few stones kicked off over the edge, bouncing against the wall once before vanishing into what soon seemed to be a true abyss.

To her relief, the rock bridge remained steady, and she went unchallenged in her approach to the tomb entrance. There, she began to feel a different kind of dark presence from the one that seemed to perpetuate the entire planet. It did not feel as if whispers were dancing across her skin, or prying eyes were watching her every move. There were still presences watching her movement, but for the moment at least they did not leave her with an urge to keep looking over her shoulder.

The shade of the Exile was ahead after all, always moving just out of sight whenever she came around a corner.

"Will I face challenges akin to those she was given?"

For once, there was silence from Kressh's presence.

She continued on in silence, mildly concerned that she had offended him with yet another question. Again as described, she was met with three diverging paths, and a choice between two in order to find the mentioned droid before moving on.

Questioning why she needed the droid as well would almost certainly see her doomed to wander the caves until she died of dehydration, or until the hssiss grew tired of waiting outside and came to eat her anyway.

After some deliberation, she made her way down the right hallway first. The cold feeling she had felt until that moment melted away, leaving her with an oddly muted sensation on her skin. Even the feeling of being watched was gone as well.

When she reached the end of the corridor, she was startled by the sight of a skeleton hanging from the pillar.

" _You are not the first to come here in the wake of the Exile. Do not disappoint me._ "

After settling down again, Mikan carefully explored around the room, and finding no signs of a droid in there came to the hopeful conclusion that it was simply down the other corridor. There was after all a concern at the back of her mind that the droid itself was nowhere to be found.

The opposing corridor proved itself to be an unpleasant contrast. The cold air was now chilling, the whispers and sense of discomfort stronger than ever. This was clearly the darker of the two, and while she doubted that any place on Korriban could have ties to the light, that did seem to be the general idea.

That, or she had gone from a room of muted darkness into the raw chaos of uncontrolled power that so often she had learned about from her studies.

Another body was there to greet her. While the first had been gnawed clean to the skeleton, the one before her was clearly more fresh, and kept free of the hssiss given how much decayed flesh remained on the bones.

" _A man who sought to exploit the secrets of my tomb for research that he had no intention of sharing with the Jedi. Pathetic. I would rather be remembered by them at least, than have knowledge of my time, my accomplishments hoarded away to obscurity altogether._ "

Again, Mikan made no comment, once more searching about the room with care, often using her spear to move clutter aside on the odd chance that a creature hiding amongst them would lash out at her.

The way that the small droid itself went in to attack her spear validated her caution rather well.

"Cease your attack, machine."

When it did just that, she hummed slightly. It was presumably a more recent model given its compact size, and the fact that it understood commands in Basic quite well.

Her eyes followed the droid as it scampered up the shaft with its four spindly legs, the rounded body twisting around to bring a central red eye into focus on her. As instructed, she gestured to the tube and the pile of teeth she had collected, bringing the whole lot out in a hovering mess in front of the droid.

It took the tube immediately with a secondary claw arm that emerged from a compartment in the surface. Meanwhile, the eye scanned the teeth for several seconds before a second arm emerged to pick out one in particular. It brought the tooth down to insert into a hole opposite the eye, and after establishing a grip inside made a few quick stabs at the air.

Mikan was quickly having concerns about exactly what the droid intended to do.

" _Proceed through the tomb, Togruta. There are yet two tests before you reach my remains._ "

"You still call me by my race, why?"

While making her way back through the corridor, she expected yet another cold gust to come. Instead, there was a thoughtful sounding hum.

" _Mikan Sol is a dead name to you, or at least close to it, no? How else would I refer to you?_ "

She too hummed in thought about that, but soon decided that her silence was enough of an answer to the presence.

In fact, she had little to say until she reached another room that had been described in detail by copies of journals she had procured from the Jedi Archives through discrete sources, namely yet another bridge crossing a deep chasm.

Having seen the shade twice again since her proceeding forward, she went in expecting a third.

Instead, she was met with one of the few things left in the galaxy that was able to bring raw emotion out of her lobotomized state.

She recognized every single face there, all members of her tribe. On the side she had just entered were those that survived, several of which holding the very same ropes she had been dragged across the plains by.

On the other were those she had killed in her rage. They were circled around a young girl, kneeling in the direction opposing the bridge. What visible skin she could see was not a typical pasty yellow of her kin, but a very distinctive red that was not the result of pigmentation. It was exactly that of newly exposed muscle.

Mikan nearly went berserk at the completely unwanted reminder, barely able to contain her fury. "Why have you conjured these memories? Why!?"

" _I am a curious sort, and your reaction has confirmed this is indeed a turning point in your life. I must understand what drives you to the dark side, beyond intellectual needs and curiosity of your own. This is the nature of my legacy._ "

Unsurprisingly, that only infuriated Mikan more, though with no sign of the projected memories going away, she eventually made herself calm back down to her cold state.

"I hate them. They treated me like an animal. They had no business intruding on my affairs." Her gaze moved over to the young girl again. "They caused her death with their assault that I had to defend myself from."

" _Yes, I feel the hatred flowing through you. It has kept you alive, not just in sustaining your body, but by giving you a reason to continue existence. But hatred inevitably means revenge, and revenge is exactly what has brought down every single Dark Lord since Naga Sadow betrayed the Empire, in one way or another._ "

At that, Mikan lowered her head, beginning to step into the room, noticing that what had been a cold stone floor was now coated in warm sand. It felt very real.

"I suppose this means I have failed the test, and I will join those remains soon enough."

The laugh that came from deeper within the tomb chilled her in ways she didn't think were possible. Compared to the rather neutral tone Kressh had held until that moment, the laugh carried a level of arrogance and amusement that seemed completely trademark of Sith Lords.

" _The hatred is not directed solely at your people. And it is not directed at the Jedi either._ "

Mikan looked at the elder of her tribe, gripping the very lightsaber that had rendered her to that state in his hand. He bore a close resemblance to herself.

" _I see through your attempt to deflect the question, Togruta. The focus of your hatred is not your father either. If you wish to continue on this path, you will indulge my curiosity, so that I might judge whether you may proceed. It is quite simple._ "

She adjusted the grip on her spear again, raising it up at last into a staff hold while she stepped over the ropes and began to cross the bridge, focusing on the skinned girl ahead.

"She shared my fascination with the history of the Sith. At first, I saw great potential for a student, someone I could confer with for a differing opinion. We never intended to put our research into use against our own kind."

She stopped at the other end of the bridge, looking to each face of those standing in that half circle. At every one, she recalled the exact manner in which they had died. A few had fallen to spears and knives, the rest to bolts of lightning that turned flesh to dust.

"One of the artifacts was tainted, a trap set by Togruta Jedi of old to expose those that delved into forbidden knowledge. We were in danger of being exposed as our very skin was stricken by that disease. They would know something had caused such a sudden change, and discover the truth."

At that, another laugh came from the doorway, this time more subdued, almost mocking in tone.

" _Such is the way of those who believe they have to fear and destroy knowledge they never intend to use. We Sithblood studied the Jedi ways of our second ancestry, we knew to know our enemy. Naga Sadow may have grown arrogant for that fact, but I knew better._ "

Mikan knelt down behind the appearance of the girl, quietly reaching out to her shoulder.

"I let myself get too comfortable. I… did things to her. That was then they found us." While she was incapable of actually feeling sorrow, it didn't stop her bodily reactions from producing a few icy tears. "I ruined her. I couldn't control myself."

Once more, there was a deep hum of thought. " _And you hate yourself for that. Fascinating._ "

"They hurled stones and spears, sand was kicked everywhere. I was blinded for a few seconds, a stray blast…"

In a blink, all the Togruta and torches around her crumbled away in sand before blowing into the abyss.

" _Perhaps there is uncorrupted potential with you yet. A good dose of self-loathing to temper personal desires. Proceed, the shade will have questions to ask of you before granting you entry._ "

With her face still expressionless as ever, she rose back to her feet and continued on as instructed.

This time, the shade of the Exile was far less fleeting in its appearances, eventually coming to a stop altogether just before the tomb of Kressh itself. It looked definitively ethereal now that she had time to examine it. Not unlike a hologram in that regard, only it was composed of a layer of purple fluid rather than beams of blue light.

It definitely resembled Meetra Surik in a vague sense, and that concerned her.

"Shade, not spirit. An impression on the Force, little more?"

" _Well deduced, Togruta. I have allowed it to stay since its formation just under five years ago. The Exile herself still lives, this much I know, and on occasion I have heard echoes of her thoughts through her shade."_

The shade itself raised its lightsaber towards Mikan, also entirely purple in colour. "Three questions, woman. I am capable of corporeal action. You would be best to answer well."

Mikan sighed at that, reaching her arm out to lean the spear against the wall to her right as it was rather obvious it would not be of use.

"Ask. I can only go forward, or die here."

The shade tilted its head to the side inquisitively for a moment, getting a proper look at the missing lekku.

"Where does your ambition lie?"

"In the pursuit of unhindered understanding, wherever that takes me."

The shade tilted her head back up, and formed a bit of an uncanny smile.

"Smart, in more ways than one. What is your plan for the galaxy, should you learn the ways of the Sith?"

That made Mikan pause for thought. The questions were at least relevant, and what she had learned of the Sith himself told that he was not one to chew words, or tolerate indirectness. Clearly the shade had some loyalty to him.

"I want freedom for the galaxy, in the truest sense. Freedom from stigmas, from discrimination, from barbarism. I believe that can be better achieved under a single Empire than a smattering of governments."

The shade smiled yet again. "Expected answer, but a truthful one. What do you know about…"

And for an inexplicable reason, her form shimmered for several seconds. Mikan glimpsed a wound that had claimed the left eye before the form returned to normal.

"Grey?"

It left Mikan confused for several moments, but her thought processes were still able to provide her with a quick response.

"The colour, or the supposed alignment that the indecisive, uncommitted, and often-faltering cling to?"

The shade lowered her lightsaber and sheathed it, stepping aside from the tomb entrance.

"Lead the Sith back down a path of chaos and destruction, and I will come for you. There is only one opportunity given. Create a stable and contained Empire, and you may yet bring true peace to the galaxy."

"But, the Code says 'Peace is a lie'-"

The cold gust came yet again, only this time it made her stumble into the tomb room itself.

" _That Code will never be uttered again. There are traditions that even an adherent must abandon. Such is the way of reform. Such is the way of what I will teach you._ "

The tomb lid itself opened of its own accord, revealing the blackened remains of what had once been Kressh himself.

Mikan approached it out of instinct, noting where the remains had been disturbed around where a sword and a shoulder piece had once laid.

" _Lie amongst the remains, Togruta._ "

At that, she truly felt a physical hesitation, as if a hand had just taken hold of her heart.

"Whatever I may have done to that girl, I am no necrophiliac."

The gust that followed was rather more a fierce gale, carrying with it a biting cold that burrowed right through her montrals to the nerves deep within.

" _Now is not the time to jest, Togruta. Lie amongst the remains, or I will make you suffer endlessly in the spot you stand._ "

With that threat looming, she slowly knelt down and twisted herself to lie back amongst the blackened remains, trying very hard not to think about what she was doing while moving into place. Were she capable of feeling it, it was entirely possible she would be shaking in terror.

For a moment, she actually did experience a flicker of that emotion when the lid slammed shut over her, leaving her trapped inside a completely black chamber with the remains of a long dead Sith Lord, and absolutely no chance of rescue.

So caught up in her silent panic, she didn't even notice the droid had crawled into the tomb space with her.

" _Sleep, Togruta. Your training needs time that the material world cannot grant. Sleep, and join me._ "

Despite her situation, sleep came rather easily, though she was not above the assumption that it was due to her impending oxygen deprivation.

Almost immediately after her eyes closed, she felt herself waking right back up, only in an entirely different location.

At an initial glance, it seemed as if she had been taken back to Korriban's surface, based on the windswept ruins and desolate landscape. She quickly realized that was not the case; the ground beneath her feet was completely wrong. It wasn't unnatural, and yet her entire perception of the land was warning her not to trust her eyes.

"It is a disconcerting feeling I expect. This realm is incredibly vivid to all who walk here, dreamers and the dead alike."

She slowly turned around, coming face to face with the Sith Lord himself at long last.

The vague descriptions of him were rather poor in comparison to his manifested appearances even considering whatever indulgences he might have made.

While not as tall as herself, he still commanded her attention through presence alone. Far from the crazed descriptions of Sithblood, he looked very calm, quite refined, rather much like the sort of man she had come to expect based on their conversation up until that moment. His elongated chin and pointed eyebrows of actual flesh looked very odd, but at the same time they both contributed to that stern-yet-thoughtful look.

He extended his hand out in a gesture for them to walk, the three gangly fingers pressed together rather awkwardly given the size of his knuckles.

"Travel in this realm is not typically done through walking, but this will be enough until you are better accustomed to it. And while we are at it…"

With a snap of his fingers, he transformed the skins Mikan had been wearing into glistening robes, adorned along the hems and cuffs with a lining of gold.

"Better. I do hope you appreciate the more civilized tastes. As non-corporeals here, we have a great degree of freedom with perception of this reality."

Mikan took a full minute to look over the robes adorning her. While they seemed rather heavy for her preference, the very fact that none of it was real meant she was by no means uncomfortable. And he had not tried to put boots on her perceived form either.

"There is much to teach you. You have earned my respect and will walk free from Korriban regardless. If not as the Dark Lord, then as the one being in the galaxy who will be vital in training whomever is to take that title. But first, a lesson about this place."

Until then, they had been walking along a ridge in the valley surrounding them. With a thought from Kressh, the landscape transformed into an entirely new area. The land was much more defined in highs and lows, several large rocks spearing out across deep chasms that the wind howled through.

When Mikan had become accustomed to the change of surroundings, he pointed to one of the largest of the jutting rocks.

"Look there. We cannot go closer. She does not like unwanted disruptions to her solitude."

Still at a loss for words, Mikan cast her gaze up to the woman in question. The most she could make out was a shape of grey, and rich black atop it, presumably her hair.

"She has existed in this realm long before any other I have encountered in my exploration. Of those I have met, only three say they have been spoken to by her directly. All women. And while she was of different species in each appearance, all three spoke of identical markings on her face. Markings of black, grey and white."

With another thought, he moved them away from the Lady's location, bringing the surroundings of a fortress courtyard to them.

"There are a handful of Jedi and Sith here, though many eventually move on to become one with the appropriate side of the Force in time. Those of us who have chosen to remain here in search of knowledge believe she is some form of Force deity, one that pursues a balance between the light and dark. We don't know just how far her influence stretches in that regard."

"So, neither friend nor enemy to us?"

"Perhaps. She has yet to make any move for or against us, she may simply tolerate our existence here as being below her own matters. Were she upset by the presence of a living mind here, I would expect she would have intervened by now. Such is the strange nature of the Force."

The concept of time reminded Mikan of her precarious situation in the physical world. And while she didn't want to appear fearful before Kressh, at least as much as she could without truly feeling it, the question seemed relevant enough to be worth posing.

"How will I be trained in the ways of Sith while my body is trapped in a tomb? I can't sleep for that long."

Kressh laughed softly at that as they walked through a gateway into the fortress building itself, the dusty walls beginning to close in around them rather appropriately. "Your body is being sustained by the dark Force as we speak, you will rise stronger than ever in fact for that alone. Another factor is that perception of time in this realm is very open to manipulation. I may have died over a thousand years ago, but I have been in study with my fellow dead for ten times that at least. While progress is slow with such limited views of the physical realm, it will afford time enough to see you trained."

"I see…"

Mikan continued to ponder all she had learned already, as there was quite an amount to make sense of as he had so accurately said. A realm separate enough from the Force to allow Sith to retain their consciousness, and commune with the living at times. A realm not bound by any laws of the physical universe.

Just before entering a large hall that was populated by a few others, she reached a hand up to the stump of her lekku again, clasping the severed flesh between her fingertips. Despite her efforts, she could not restore it, or the parts of her being that had been taken away with its removal. She couldn't even feel disappointment in learning that for herself.

It didn't go unnoticed by Kressh. Rather than making a point about it, he instead quietly ushered her towards the great table situated in the centre of the hall.

"You will perceive being here for quite some time, it would be wise to become acquainted with the other souls of the group now. They too will have guidance for you, certain knowledge that does not exist anywhere in the galaxy itself that you will have the honour of restoring to physical record."

Mikan quickly noticed some of those mentioned others included Jedi, based on their chosen attire anyway. More surprising was a notable lack of obvious Sith, Kressh himself aside, as most of the others seemed to hail from groups she didn't recognize. The sole Rakata at the end of the table was one she did, meaning the realm had existed since their golden age at least.

"Friends, it would seem our opportunity has arisen at last. Mikan Sol has proven her worth and her intellect to me. At last, we can see the knowledge gathered finally restored by a mind willing to put it all to use. The Sith will return in a new order, one geared towards unified progression over pathetic personal gains. What say you all?"

They murmured to each other in a variety of languages by the sound of it, and yet they all seemed to understand each other perfectly. After their discussion ended, the Rakata straightened up and strode over to Mikan as their elected spokesperson.

While he spoke audibly in his native language, she could understand the intent of the words in her mind quite clearly.

 _Do you appreciate the responsibility being placed upon you? The galaxy is filled with many who would not see the Sith return as a force of any kind, even a purely intellectual one. Such is the way of those who refuse to walk near the dark side._

"I understand quite clearly. I am in no hurry to see revenge exacted on my tribe, my only purpose for the foreseeable future is to rebuild the Sith, and continue to explore the long lost depths of knowledge. Pursuing that means people are inevitably going to die in opposition to me. I do not take the restoration of knowledge lightly."

The Rakata seemed to smirk at that, closing his eyes while raising his hand to apparently conjure an object from thought. After a few moments, a decorated cup appeared, from which he took a small sip.

 _You speak with honesty. You truly believe this is your purpose, that you can in fact fulfil it. Perhaps. Perhaps it will take longer than you expect. You may end up here amongst us before the goal has been achieved, or disappear into obscurity altogether. Are you prepared to never see the outcome of your effort?_

Mikan looked at him, as best she could anyway given how wide apart his eyes were. That was a question of selflessness, something she had never expected to hear from anyone so heavily affiliated with the dark side. But it was a day of many new revelations to her after all.

"Yes, I am. I will be content knowing that my legacy holds against time, I do not need to see that it remains true for myself."

At that, the Rakata grinned, bearing the maw beneath that put her own sharp teeth to shame. The cup in his hand vanished with another gesture while he turned back to the others, speaking to them again.

Kressh smiled in turn as well, placing a hand on her shoulder. "They approve. Now your training begins. There are many things you must learn, places in the galaxy that will be of use in the coming years, and artifacts to keep an eye out for. In the meantime, make the most of being free from the worldly needs here. Indulge yourself however you like, you will find no judgement from us. I've quite enjoyed being able to drink without repercussion myself."

The lack of emotional response from Mikan was a saving grace for once. She didn't want her moment of shame to come through before she focused herself on the task ahead.

* * *

Nearly twelve hours passed before the tomb lid opened up yet again. It felt as if years had passed as far as Mikan was concerned, thus the shock of waking up to reality at last made her sit up abruptly, and nearly fall back from the sudden change of blood flow it brought to her head.

The skin on her face, hands, chest and stomach was stinging in several areas, something she only began to truly take notice of once she had pulled herself out of the tomb space and gradually regained her balance.

While the room had seemed dark at first, her eyes quickly became accustomed, flowing with the essence of Korriban itself that had gathered in her body as described. It allowed her to make out black markings on her hands where the stinging sensation was located. It seemed logical that the same markings were to be found elsewhere.

As if to confirm that, the small droid she had retrieved crawled out into view, glaring up at her with that red eye. There were still a few traces of hssiss venom on the tooth it still had a grip on.

Tattoos of dark poison, seeping into her body, heightening her strength with the dark side of the Force. Undoubtedly they would sting for months to come, but through pain would come immunity. Kressh had planned things out well in advance.

She was barely surprised when he appeared in front of her again, this time rather more ghostly in appearance.

"You have done well, my apprentice. Kneel so that you may be anointed amongst your peers. Your training is complete, you now have the markings of a true Sith."

Mikan did just that, lowering her head until her montrals were just shy of Kressh's form, and her sole lekku dragged into the dust around. From there, she could barely see more ghostly figures beginning to appear. Different from the souls that she had come to know through years of mental discussion.

Every one of them was Sith, presumably hailing from the age of Marka Ragnos himself. Now come to see the true Dark Lord pass on the title at last.

"The line of Naga Sadow is broken. The time has come for a new Empire to rise. By the power of the Sith, I name the steward to the throne of the Emperor. Rise."

A faint chill passed over Mikan's body. For that was her last moment as the Togruta woman of the plains. When she rose at last, her eyes had turned a blood red, and gold was beginning to flare out of her pupils. Raw malice was growing within, feeding into her power at last.

She met the gaze of Ludo Kressh. No longer with the solemn gaze of an near-emotionless woman, but that of a fierce warrior that would tear the throat out of any who opposed her at a moment's notice. Gone were the sensibilities, the restrictions of a traditionalist Togruta.

Gone was the name Mikan Sol.

"Look into the depths of your mind. Find the name that calls to you. A name befitting that of a Darth."

She did just that, exploring further into the reaches of her subconsciousness. There was a small sigh when the name came to her at last.

"I hear it."

"Yes, I hear it as well. Then, let it be known to all in the galaxy. Henceforth, you will be known as Darth Lasidia, Steward of the Reformed Sith Empire."

With the faintest hint of a smile, Lasidia bowed her head in respect. "I understand my purpose. I understand what all Sith must do to see that our return is permanent. I will not fail in this task master."

Kressh scoffed at that, though more in amusement at how far she had come. "To think, Sith before you would have killed their masters, or destroyed what remained of them out of spite alone. Now, the new line shows gratitude, and respect. Go now with our blessing, we will not appear in the physical realm again."

Lasidia gestured out to her spear, drawing it to her hand once again. It wasn't yet time to build her lightsaber, mostly due to lacking a crystal forge that would need time to either build or recover that was not yet available to her.

"I will not fail, you may rest with that assurance."

She stepped forward as soon as he and the other ghosts moved out of the way, only to find herself once again meeting the gaze of the shade.

Once more, Kressh was quick to action. "Your presence here is no longer necessary. Dissipate and depart."

While it seemed the shade had yet more to say, she dissipated into the dark energies of the tomb itself before getting a word out. Neither one of the Sith were particularly concerned about what went unsaid.

"Might I suggest you search through the Academy records before your departure? They may yet contain information that will guide you towards some valuable allies, and warn you of those you must avoid, more than anything I could tell you myself."

Lasidia glanced over her shoulder, having returned back to her solemn expression. "I will do what I can then, if the Jedi have yet to destroy what little remains. Farewell, Lord Kressh."

The last she saw of him was a nod, before he and all the other Sith ghosts dissipated as well, leaving her alone in the tomb.

* * *

Over fourteen hours after dropping Mikan off, Kokyak had finally returned to the Valley to retrieve her. While the request had come through far sooner than he had expected, the fact that she was standing there with several great lizards in tow was a clear indicator she had indeed been successful.

As soon as the ship set down, and the hatch was set to open, he returned to his soft chanting with eyes closed. He remained that way even after she boarded the ship, when an odd sound that he guessed was leather hitting the deck, and when she approached the cockpit at last.

"You're chanting a death prayer? Why?"

He could already hear the change of tone in her voice, a tone that spoke with a noticeable level of confidence that wasn't present before. Feeling her hand on his shoulder made him go cold through his own fear alone.

Her stare also had a presence to it now. He didn't need to open his eyes to feel that gaze on him, one that was unmistakably glowing with power. When he did eventually open his eyes, having broken the chant, he jumped a little at how fierce Mikan's now looked with how they had changed. It also felt fortunate that he was too captivated by the stare to notice that she had forgone the skins altogether.

"I know something about Sith. About not holding value in favours. I knew I was no use to you once you were done with the tomb. And I accepted that, whatever happened, I would have done my best to help you and that was enough for me to stay on."

Lasidia looked at him for a while longer before straightening up to put on the black robes she had been wearing earlier at last. They felt different without the skins underneath, but comfort was of little concern to her.

"You have never been disposable to me, Kokyak. Forget what you have learned about the Sith, those ways are no longer relevant. I will be taking things in a different direction."

She slid back down into the seat beside him when she was done, tying the strap around her waist once she had become comfortable. "Our next destination is a world named Ziost. I will give you the coordinates once we are past the patrols. That is where we begin the rebuilding, and retraining of the Empire. The Republic may know of it, but they do not have its exact location, and that is a valuable asset."

Bewildered by the unexpected stay of death, Kokyak remained rather quiet while preparing for the launch and tense departure ahead of them, only to have yet another jump of fright when she leaned over to kiss his cheek. Affection of any kind for or about anyone or anything was also something she had never shown before.

"You can't continue in fear of me, not like this. I may be a Sith Lord now, but that does not change things. Being able to wield the Force or not is irrelevant to how I value others."

"That may be so, Mikan, but…"

He looked over at her when he felt the cold rising again. It was very hard to tell whether or not it was because of something he said when her expression rarely changed. When her gaze finally broke into quicker glances, he felt a little more relieved.

"It's Darth Lasidia from now on. Mikan Sol is a dead name. But then, you didn't ask and I didn't state it."

"Point is... " His line of thought was briefly interrupted by a sensor blip that at first looked like an approaching gunship. When it turned out to be nothing, he sighed and recovered his thoughts. "The point is, I don't know how else I'm supposed to feel about you. The fact that you won't just kill me out of spite doesn't change the other fact that you so easily could. That is something I can't just ignore."

Lasidia turned her head back around, settling her gaze on the gradually thinning air before them. "Don't look to me in fear of the power I wield, but respect out of the fact that I know how to use it properly. I am not the sort who would kill loyal men and women on a whim just to prove my power. The Sith that remain need to learn a new way of leadership if they are to follow me."

She relaxed a little when he seemed to do the same, her point having settled in. "That said I'd kill Bandon on sight if he hadn't already been thankfully put down. To think an arrogant animal like that would dare to take the title of Darth. Shows just how far the once mighty Sith really have fallen."

There, Kokyak really took notice of the change in her attitude. She had rarely shown anger beyond the few times she had been questioned about her past, but now she was clearly feeling hatred towards a man that was dead for over a decade. It was worryingly irrational, even for what he had come to expect of her.

But then, he was in no position to argue with a newly anointed Sith Lord that in no uncertain terms had just made it clear that she had no interest in disposing of him as soon as he was done flying her about. However deranged she probably was underneath the expressionless face, staying on her good side still had much better prospects ahead than trying to run away into a Republic jail cell, or worse at the hands of the Jedi.


End file.
